Dr. B. Siva Sankara Rao, J.

Aggrieved by the dismissal order dated 11.09.2003 passed in O.P. No.396 of 2000 on the file of the Judge, Family Court, Visakhapatnam, (for short, 'the trial Court'), the unsuccessful petitioner preferred this appeal.

2. The brief facts of the case are as under:

The petitioner/husband filed the O.P. No.396 of 2000 on the file of the Judge, Family Court, Visakhapatnam, against the respondent/wife for dissolution of their marriage dated 26.06.1997, performed as per Hindu rites and customs at Godavari Kalayna Mandapam of Simhachalam in Visakhapatnam, under Section 13 (1) (ia) and (ib) of the Hindu Marriage Act (for short ‘the Act’) on the grounds of cruelty and desertion.

3. After contest, the trial Court dismissed the petition with costs on 11.09.2003. Impugning the same, he preferred the appeal with contentions in the grounds of appeal as well as the oral submissions made by the counsel for the appellant in support of it that the dismissal decree and order of the lower Court are contrary to law, weight of evidence and probabilities of the case; that the Court below should have seen that the respondent/wife knowingfully and willfully refused to joi