(1.) The parties are husband and wife. They were married sortie time in the year 1974. Hardly six months after the marriage, the husband met with violence from his brother with the result that he lost his eyesight and became totally blind. The wife went back to her parental house and never returned. The husband sued her for restitution of conjugal rights under Section 9 of the Jammu and Kashmir Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, (hereinafter called '1955 Act'). The lower court dismissed the application holding that, in the circumstances, the wife had a "reasonable excuse" for withdrawing from the society of her husband. The husband appealed. The appeal came up before one of us, namely, Mufti J. as he then was. Before him the argument on behalf of the appellant- husband was that the expression "reasonable excuse" appearing in Sub-section
(2.) During the pendency of this reference the Jammu and Kashmir Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, was repealed and in its place a new act called the Jammu and Kashmir Hindu Marriage Act, 1980 (hereinafter called "1980 Act") was enacted by the State Legislature. Section 36 of 1980 Act. in so far as relevant, provides as under :-
(3.) The effect of provisions of Clause (c) is that the present appeal would be governed by the provisions of 1980 Act. Section 9 of the said Act provides :