SHYAM CHAND Vs. JANKI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal, against a decree of the learned Senior Subordinate Judge Mahasu, has arisen out of a petition, filed by the appellant, under Section 10 (1) (a), Hindu Marriage Act, against the respondent, his wife. The petition was based on the following allegations :The appellant and the respondent were married in June 1951 at village Bedar, Tehsil Theog. The parties had lived at that village till February 1952. They had, then, shifted to village Ghorna where the appellant was carrying on a shop. Three children were born to the parties. One child died; two children--one son and one daughter--are alive. The respondent had gone to her father's house in August 1957 and had come back on 19-6-58. After that, the parties had lived at villages Bedar and Ghorna till the first, week of September 1958 when the respondent had left the appellant and had gone to the house of her father. The respondent had not come back, despite requests of the appellant and other respectable persons. The respondent had, thus, deserted the appellant, for, a continuous period of not less than two years, immediately preceding the presentation of the petition, and the appellant was entitled to get a decree for judicial separation, on that ground.

(2.) The petition was contested by the respondent. She admitted that the parties were married in June 1951 and that children were born out of the wedlock. But she denied that she had deserted the appellant. The plea of the respondent was that she was maltreated, beaten and turned out of his house by the appellant. Giving details of the maltreatment, the respondent had stated that she was kept in a separate room at Bedar while the appellant lived at Ghorna and that the rations given to her at Bedar, were meagre and were hardly sufficient for her subsistence. She had, further, stated that she was kept in a cowshed at Ghorna, was deprived of the children, was beaten and ultimately turned out. According to the respondent, her father along with some other respectable persons had approached the appellant to take her back but the appellant had refused to take her back and had indicated his intention to divorce her. The respondent alleged that the petition for judicial separation was filed mala fide to counteract and nullify the order of payment of maintenance, obtained by her, against the appellant, from the Nyaya Panchayat, after she had been turned out, by the appellant.

(3.) In his replication, the appellant denied the allegations about maltreatment, beating and turning out the respondent. He alleged that the respondent had been provided with all the comforts at Bedar and Ghorna, that she bad unjustifiably left the house of the appellant, and that her conduct and behaviour had compelled the appellant to file the petition for judicial separation.