PARBIA RAM Vs. THOPLI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal, against an order of the learned Senior Subordinate Judge, Mandi.

(2.) The appellant had filed a petition, under Section 9 of the Hindu Marriage Act, for restitution of conjugal rights, against respondent No. 1 and for the issue of a mandatory injunction against respondents Nos. 2 to 4. The allegations, in the petition, were that respondent No. 1 was the legally wedded wife of the appellant, that their marriage had been per formed under custom, prevalent in the brotherhood and the illaca, that respondent No. 1 had lived with the appellant for one and a half years after the marriage and that she had been taken away by respondents Nos. 2 to 4 on the 23rd May, 1952 to their house and had not been sent back, despite repeated requests.

(3.) The petition was contested, on behalf of the respondents, on various grounds. It is unnecessary to set forth all those grounds. The only ground, relevant for the decision of this appeal, was that respondent No. 1 had been never married to the appellant and was not his legally wedded wife and that the appellant had abducted respondent No. 1 who had lived with him for a rear or so.