YASH PAL Vs. SUNITA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) On 14th April, 1984, the parties were married at Patiala to which place the bride belongs and on 15th April, 1984, the birde was brought to Kaithal, to which place bridegroom belongs. They had first coitus at Kaithal on 15th April, 1984 and stayed there for 4/5 days. There after both of them went to patiala and stayed there over night. On 21st April, 1984, they returned to Kaithal and two days later the couple went for honeymoon to Moussurie, Hardwar and Nainital and continued to live together happily in the matrimonial home till December, 1984.

(2.) Soon after marriage, she got pregnant and in an advanced family way for the purposes of delivery she went to Patiala in December, 1984. On 3rd January, 1984, a female child was born. On getting information of the birth of the child the husband went to Patiala. It is alleged by the husband in the divorce petition that at Patiala he was introduced to one Kamal Verma, impleaded as a respondent in the divorce petition, who lived in the neighbourhood of his laws. After returning to Kaithal he is alleged to have received bearing letters containing romantic language written by the wife to Kamal verma, and joint snaps. These were sent annonymously. The letters and the snaps pertained to the period prior to marriage. On a perusal of the letters the husband got an impression beyond reasonable doubt that his wife was having sexual relations with Kamal Verma before marriage and because of that she was pregnant at the time of marriage as the child was born 8 months 19 days after the marriage. Because of this he did not bring his wife and child from Patiala to Kaithal and instead filed a divorce petition on 5.6.1985 on the ground of mental cruelty caused by the letters and the photographs received by him and adultery with Kamal Verma. The wife contested the petition and denied the allegations levelled against her, on which the following issues were framed :-

(3.) Reconciliation was tried but the husband refused to reconcile with the wife. Thereafter arguments were heard but before concluding the hearing it was felt necessary that Kamal Verma should be asked to appear in Court for recording his statement. He appeared on 11th May, 1987 and his statement was recorded as Court witness. Acording to his statement, his first marriage took place 9 years ago and that was dissolved at the instance of the wife and his second marriage took place 7 years ago and that was also dissolved at his second wife's taking divorce and third marriage took place in 1983 with whom he was having a happy married life and had two years old son and that his wife was on the way to deliver a second child. He denied if respondent No. 1 ever wrote letters to him or got a joint photograph. When he was shown the photograph, which was a simple couple photograph in plain clothes he stated that the same appears to have been prepared clearly by photographic trick, may be by joining their separate photographs into one. He totally denied if he had any affair with respondent No. 1. Both sides were given opportunity to cross-examine him. He tried to evade the answer to the questions put by the counsel for the husband, but from his cross-examination it could not be shown if respondent No. 1 had any objectionable affair with the witness. She had appeared in Court during reconciliation proceedings and she appeared to be an innocent and simple girl. When she had appeared as a witness during trial on 15.1.1986, she gave her age as 20 years, which means in April, 1984 at the time of marriage she was about 18 years. The disputed letters are of February, 1982 and January, 1983, when she was 16 to 17 years old. These letters are in the form of essays and seem to have been written on the dictation of someone. At best they can be assumed as love letters. The law is very clear that anything done by a spouse before marriage is not a ground for divorce. Not only that, section 13(1)(i) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 gives a cause for divorce to a spouse if the other spouse after the solemnization of marriage has voluntary sexual intercourse with a person other than his or her spouse. There is no allegation in this case if wife showed any conduct after marriage which may give cause for divorce to the husband either on the ground of mental cruelty or for living in adultery. The allegations in the petition and the statement of the husband do not show if the wife did any act after marriage for giving a cause for divorce. His case is that they were living as a very happy and lovable couple till the birth of the child and his meeting with Kamal Verma after marriage and receiving of bearing letters and snaps caused the break down of the love and affection between the couple.