JOSEPH ANTHONY SWEENNEY Vs. MERCY BEATRICE CATHERINE SWEENNEY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a reference under Section 17 of the Indian Divorce Act for confirmation of a decree for dissolution of marriage made by the District Judge of Midnapore.

(2.) The petitioner is Joseph Anthony Sweenney and the respondent is Mercy Beatrice Catherine Sweenney. The husband petitioner was seeking dissolution of his marriage with the respondent on the ground of latter's adultery with a man named Lazarus Thaddeus who was made the co-respondent in the proceedings and against whom the learned Judge made an order for payment of costs.

(3.) The petitioner by his petition averred that he was married to the respondent on June 29, 1926, at the Church of the Sacred Heart at Kharagpur. The respondent at that time was a spinster. Both the petitioner and the respondent profess the Christian religion. They are Anglo- Indians and are domiciled in India. After the marriage the petitioner lived and cohabited with the respondent at Kharagpur. There was no issue of the marriage. The petitioner's case was that within a few months of the marriage he discovered that his wife had a number of lovers amongst the young men at Kharagpur. The petitioner endeavoured to check and control the behaviour of the respondent, and from time to time the respondent is said to have asked forgiveness of the petitioner and promised to behave properly. But time and again she relapsed into her dissolute ways and eventually she deserted the petitioner in the month of June 1927 and from, that time onwards she had been leading an immoral life with other, young men, and ultimately took to living in open adultery with the co-respondent