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2002 Supreme(Kar) 587

Karnataka High Court
Nalini Sunder - Appellant
Versus
G.V.Sunder - Respondent
Decided On : 09-21-02
M.F.A. : 1150 of 1996

Advocates:
BAPU HEDDUR SHETTI, S.SHEKHAR SHETTY

Headnote:Divorce on the ground of cruelty

       FAMILY COURTS ACT, 1984-

       Section 19 (1) -Whether alleged conduct of wife amounts to cruelty? Stated.

       [Tirath S. Thakur & D. V. Shylendra Kumar, JJ.] - The incident relating to the quarrel allegedly started between the couple shortly after their return from Honeymoon on account of shortage of water in the matrimonial home of the couple and the wife making a fuss over the matter, the alleged incident not- withstanding the couple had admittedly continued cohabitation. The same ought to be ignored as an ordinary wear and tear of marital life. The second incident relates to the occasion when the Husband asked for a cup of coffee. There, being no allegation made in the Divorce Petition, no amount of evidence can prove the case for a party who has not set up the same in his pleadings, that apart the incident does not prove a persistent course of conduct on the part of the wife so as to make it difficult for the husband to live with the wife much cannot be made out of the incident to support a plea for dissolution of the wedlock. The third incident relates to the alleged threats given by the Appellant wife to the husband that she will commit suicide and implicate him. Referring to the decision in Dastane Vs. Dastane (AIR 1975) Supreme Court 1534, it is held that unless the conduct of the wife which formed the basis for the Court to dissolve the marriage was persistent, the conduct of the wife could not be cruelty towards the husband.

TIRATH S. THAKUR. J.

( 1 ) THIS appeal by the wife calls in question the correctness of a Judgment and Decree passed by the prl. Judge, Family Court, Bangalore in M. C. No. 419/1988 whereby the said Court has allowed the husband's petition u/s 13{l) (ia) of the Hindu Marriage Act and dissolved the marriage between the parties by a decree of divorce.

( 2 ) THE parties are Hindus by faith, they were married at Bangalore on 2-5-1985. Out of the wedlock, the couple had begotten a child who is presently living with the appellant. Differences having arisen between the couple, they have been living separately since 1988. M. C. Nb. 419/1988 was in the above background filed by the husband before the Family Coiirt at Bangalore for dissolution of the marriage on the ground that the appellant wife treated the husband with cruelty. The petition enumerated the alleged acts of omission and commission which according to the husband constituted cruelty and entitled him to the relief prayed for. He inter alia alleged that after their honeymoon, when the couple returned to Bangalore, the wife started a quarrel with the petitioner on the ground that sufficient water was not stored in the house. The husband's version was that water supply during the relevant period was generally scant in Bangalore but instead of adjusting herself to the quantity available, the wife unnecessarily made a fuss over the same and continued quarrelling with the husband right past midnight. It was alleged that the husband had provided all conforts to the wife and used to give her the freedom to run the house. Even the aged mother of the husband who was living with them shifted to the house of her elder son in order to leave the parties to themselves. She was even advised to keep herself busy in some activity or the other during her leisure hours. The wife all the same continued her abnormal behavior and was in the habit of getting violent on the flimsiest of reasons; it was during this period of their matrimonial turbulence that the wife conceived which renewed the husband's hope that she would mend her ways once the responsibility and the joys of motherhood fell on her. The hope did not however come true for after the delivery of the child at Bombay, the wife returned to Bangalore without any behavioral change for the better in her. On the contrary, she according to the petitioner started using the child as a tool to inflict misery upon the husband. Of the various methods adopted by the wife to incite the husband, the one she used more than once was by threatening to kill herself so as to implicate him. The attempts of the husband to pacify her would increase her violence and make her more aggressive. She could according to the petitioner be brought back to normal behavior only if the husband put-shouted her. Often the husband had to leave the house and return home hours later to avoid such undersirable situations. She would even terrorize the child and abuse her. The child also suffered in the process of the bouts of violence and shouting that would ensue. The husband's further case was that something appeared pathologically wrong with her psyche. Even when the matter was brought to the notice of her parents, they showed little or no concern at all saying that things would work out by themselves. Psychiatric consultations advised by the husband was also brushed off by the wife and her parents. The conduct of the wife according to the averments made in the petition resulted in continuous physical and mental tension for the husband. The result was that the husband had developed a serious apprehension that she might harm the husband, herself or the child. The wife having left her matrimonial home in April, 1988 never to return had left no alternative to the husband but to file a petition for dissolution of the marriage on the ground of cruelty.

( 3 ) THE wife appeared before the Family court to file objections in which she refuted the allegations made by the husband, It



















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