UMA SHANKER JOSHI Vs. RAJESHWARI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is husband's appeal under Section 28 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 (the Act) against the decree and judgment dated 17-10-1986 passed by the learned District Judge, Ajmer in Civil Misc. Case No. 165/1979 dismissing his petition under Section 13 of the Act. The case set up in the petition was as under: -

(2.) That after the marriage the respondent accompanied the appellant to his house in village Beer where she stayed with him for about four days and thereafter accompanied by her brother, came to her parents' house from where she returned to the matrimonial home in August, 1978 and lived with the appellant for about 15 days and after that period she went to the house of her parents and returned to the matrimonial home on or about 25-1-1979 and thereafter went to her parents' house on 16-2-1979 along with her father and since then she has been living with her parents. During the period that the respondent stayed with the appellant, her treatment towards the appellant and his parents was very cruel and contemptuous and she used abusive language towards him and his parents and treated them with cruelty. The instances of cruelty quoted in the petition were : (i) On one occasion in August, 1978 when the appellant and his friends and classmates Sriram and Ugam Lal visited him, the appellant asked the respondents to prepare tea for them, but she muttered very bad words and walked out. This conduct of the respondents caused great mental anguish and humiliation to the appellant; (ii) In August, 1978 on one occasion the respondent hit appellant's mother with 'Bhoonkni' and this act of the respondent caused disgrace and humiliation to the appellant and his parents in the eye of his relations; (iii) That the respondent had been creating problems and difficulties affecting the normal routine life of the appellant and thereby putting obstacles in the peaceful pursuit of his studies; and (iv) That on 12-2-1979, the appellant asked the respondent to join him for holidaying to Benaras but she contemptuously spurned his offer which caused great mental distress to the appellant. With these allegations the appellant prayed that the marriage performed between him and the respondent according to Hindu rites at Masuda on 17-6-1978 be dissolved by passing a decree of divorce.

(3.) The case set up, in her written statement, by the respondent was that it was in accordance with the family custom that after the marriage she stayed in the matrimonial home only for four days and thereafter she returned to her parents house along with her brother and that since the appellant was undergoing training in I.T.I., she stayed with her parents and came to live with the appellant in August, 1978 where she lived only for 15 days and thereafter had gone to her parents' house and that after returning to the matrimonial home she had to go to her parents' house in February, 1979 as thhhe appellant had asked her father to take her along with him, as the appellant was to go to Benaras etc. along with his friends and colleagues, She denied the allegation that her behaviour towards the appellant and/or his parents was cruel or she ever used any abusive language for any of them. She also denied the occurrences mentioned in the petition and pleaded that they were concocted ones. She also pleaded that somebody from the appellants family used to go and fetch her from her parents' house, but after she went there in February, 1979, none from the appellants' side came to fetch her although her father had approached them for this purpose. By way of additional pleas it was pleaded that the father of the appellant had an evil eye on her and she had complained to the appellant about it and had also suggested to him that he and she should live in a separate house.