Hindu Marriage Act, 1955
Sections 13(1)(ia) & 13(1)(i)—Divorce—Cruelty and adultery—Dismissal of matrimonial suit filed by husband—Appeal—Appellant-husband has failed to prove cruel behaviour of first respondent-wife towards him and his family members by the strength of cogent, relevant and reliable evidence, while burden of proof of cruelty rests upon the appellant-husband of this case, because, he has sought relief of divorce on the basis of cruel behaviour of the first respondent towards him—Not even single incident with reference to specific date of alleged cruelty has been urged in the plaint before the Family Court—Wife (first respondent) is still ready to live with the appellant—Alleged certain flimsy act or omission or using some threatening and harsh words may occasionally happen in the day-to-day conjugal life of a husband and wife to retaliate the other spouse but that cannot be a justified/sustainable ground for taking divorce—Some trifling utterance or remarks or mere threatening of one spouse to other cannot be construed as such decree of cruelty, which is legally required to a decree of divorce—Appellant has failed to prove the allegation of cruelty, much less, the decree of cruel behaviour of respondent which is legally required for grant of decree of divorce under Section 13(1)(ia) of the Hindu Marriage Act—Appellant has not brought on record any proof to show that first respondent was having illicit relationship with second respondent nor he has proved that they were living in adultery—Only in order to make a valid ground in the divorce petitioner, baseless allegations were leveled against first respondent—No merit found in appeal—Dismissed.
[Paras 16, 20, 21 & 24]