Hindu Marriage Act, 1955
Section 13—Divorce—Ground—Continuous separation between parties for a long period should itself be a ground for divorce itself—Parties have lived separately for 12 years and there is no chance of reconciliation between parties and marriage has irretrievably broken down—No useful purpose would be served by maintaining this matrimonial bond—Insistence to continue this relationship would only be inflicting further cruelty upon both the parties—Marital discord between parties at present is such that there is a complete loss of faith, trust, understanding and love between parties—Conduct of wife has been such as to cause great mental anguish to the husband, and the parties cannot be reasonably expected to live with each other anymore—Marriage between parties is dissolved by decree of divorce under Sections 13(1)(ia) and 13(1)(ib) of the Hindu Marriage Act—Appeal allowed.
[Paras 41 & 45]
Section 13(1)(ia)—Divorce—Ground of cruelty—Dismissal of petition filed by husband—Appeal—Approach of the Family Court that it was for the husband to prove in negative – that he and his family had not subjected the wife to harassment or cruelty the dowry, is palpably wrong and against all cannons of justice and fairplay—Unless there is a statutory presumption created in respect of a state of affairs, the initial onus to prove ones case cannot be shifted by requiring the other party to prove the reverse—Appeal allowed.
[Para 32]
Sections 13(1)(ia) & 13(1)(ib)—Divorce—Cruelty and desertion—Dismissal of petition filed by husband—Appeal—Wife filed an unsubstantiated criminal complaint against husband and his family members which caused them immense mental cruelty and agony—Wife made several contradictory and unsubstantiated allegations in her written statements, complaint before the CAW Cell, and her evidence by way of affidavit—Failure of wife to prove and establish averments she made, which itself amounts to mental cruelty—In respect of her testimony, she stood discredited in the light of the said contradictions—Conduct of wife not only demonstrated a clear intention on her part to desert the husband, but also her lack of sensitivity to the physical and emotional needs of the husband—Wife could not justify not returning to the matrimonial home, and her refusal to cohabitate with husband, is sufficient to establish desertion by her—Husband has been able to make out a case of being subjected to cruelty and desertion at the hands of wife—Husband is entitled to succeed on both the grounds i.e. 13(1)(ia) and 13(1)(ib) of the Hindu Marriage Act—Appeals allowed.
[Paras 39 & 40]