GOPI KRISHNA KASAUDHAN Vs. MT JAGGO

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal raises a question which has an important bearing upon the law of marriage governing the Hindu community. It arises out of a dispute relating to the estate of one Nikku Lal, who died in July 1923. Nikku Lal was a member of the Vaishya caste of Gorakhpur in the United Provinces of India, and followed the Mitakshara School of Hindu law. The plaintiff Gopi Krishna, who is the appellant before their Lordships, is admittedly Nikku Lal's legitimate son; and his right to a moiety of the estate is no longer in dispute. He however claims the entire estate on the ground that the defendant, Sri Kishan, is not a legitimate son of Nikku Lal, and therefore has no interest in the property left by him.

(2.) That Sri Krishna was born of a woman called Jaggo is not disputed, but the question is whether she was, at that time, a lawfully wedded wife of Nikku Lal. It appears that she was originally married to one Baijnath, while she was a minor; and that, after his death, she married his younger brother Sheonath. The second marriage however did not prove to be a happy one, as Sheonath had another wife who naturally disliked the advent of a rival. There were consequently quarrels between the two wives, and the husband, in order to put an end to the trouble, abandoned the second wife.

(3.) Thus deserted Jaggo entered into a matrimonial alliance with Nikku Lal by performing the ceremony of sagai. Now sagai is an informal ceremony of marriage and the Courts below have concurred in holding, not only that she performed the ceremony of sagai with Nikku Lal, but also that it is recognized as a valid ceremony in the case of a re-marriage. This decision is not challenged before their Lordships, but it is urged that the lady could not contract a valid marriage during the continuance of her marriage with Sheonath. It is obvious that she could not marry Nikku Lal if she was still Sheonath's wife. The defendants how-ever invoke a custom which recognises and sanctions the re-marriage of a woman who has been abandoned by her husband. The learned Judges of the High Court have, upon an examination of the evidence, endorsed the conclusion of the trial Judge that Jaggo had been deserted by Sheonath before she married Nikku Lal, and that, by a custom applicable to the parties, such abandonment or desertion of the wife by her husband dissolves the marriage tie and sets her free to contract another marriage. Their Lordships see no reason for departing from the general rule of practice that they will not make a fresh examination of facts for the purpose of disturbing concurrent findings recorded by two Courts in India.