A wife is justified in refusing to return to the matrimonial home if her husband has subjected her to mental cruelty.

( 1 ) THE history of this matrimonial litigation by the husband Bejoy Daw, now appellant, against his wife Aloka Daw, now respondent, for restitution of conjugal rights divides itself into four stages: i. August 14, 1957, when Bejoy aged 30 or thereabouts and Aloka aged 20 or thereabouts, Hindus both, were married according to Hindu rites, to May, 1958, when Bejoy reached Aloka from the matrimonial home to her mother's place at 92a, Bhupendra Bose Avenue, Calcutta, for her impending confinement. II. February 3, 1958, from when Bejoy started inflicting upon Aloka vitriolic letters to November 26, 1958, when Bejoy sent his younger brother with a chit to Aloka, making a peremptory demand for return, through the bearer of the chit, of all ornaments and articles given her by all his people, threatening her with dire consequences in case of non-compliance with such ultimatum and carrying out the threat by having swooped down upon his wife's place: An act which led to a rough-and-trumble or maramari, as both Bejoy and Aloka, in the midst of their so many differences, put it in their evidence. During this period, to be precise, on or about July 20, 1958, Aloka was delivered of a female child. III. August 8, 1960, from when Bejoy started writing one letter after another, mostly to Aloka, one to her eldest brother and one to her mother, pleading for Aloka's return to the matrimonial home, with the precaution of sending such letters by registered post with acknowledgement due and keeping a carbon copy of each, to March 28, 1962, when Bejoy's matrimonial suit No. 2 of 1961 against Aloka instituted on January 3, 1961, for judicial separation, was permitted to be withdrawn, with costs, Aloka pressed for and the Judge granted. IV. April 1, 1962, from when Bejoy took to writing letters again, mostly to Aloka and one to her brother Mrityunjoy Datta, c/o Reliance Stores (Pvt) Ltd. , 92, Bhupendra Bose Avenue, Calcutta, with the same type of double precaution: (i) by registered post with acknowledgement due and (ii) keeping a carbon copy of each, the refrain of which letters is that Aloka, whose, return to the matrimonial home is longed for, should come back soon enough, to September 4, 1962, when the present cause, matrimonial suit No. 73 of 1962, for restitution of conjugal rights was instituted - a cause which has been dismissed and out of which the appeal, we are now adjudicating upon, has arisen.

( 2 ) THE first stage presents to problem. The correspondence that is seen in and about this period is quite the normal exchange of letters to and from between Bejoy and Aloka, the newly married couple. Here is a resume of such letters, interspersed with comments, resting on evidence: (1) A letter without date by Aloka from Calcutta to Bejoy at Asansole where his father and third witness, Sanatan Daw, is the Managing Director of Asansole Electric Supply Co. Ltd. , bearing the postal mark of asansole with date November 5, 1957, ex. 1 (u ). By this letter Aloka answers Bejoy's of November 1 previous. Two matters herein deserve special notice. One, Bejoy writes, Aloka says that she should have all his endearment to the exclusion of everybody else. But, Aloka reports, he may as well-receive endearment from his father when he comes to him. More, she points out, Bejoy chats and chats with his friends, plays cards with them and has his outings too in their company. That is not to be reckoned against him. But for her the yardstick is different. Bejoy makes a point of Aloka's devoting all her attention and time to him. Two, one Bardi of Serampore, she will certainly call one day and write to her too, after she has called so. (Bardi literally means older sister or cousin. But Bardi referred to here is not either. She is Sm. Snehalata Das, the appellant's second witness in the Court below, a widowed nurse, aged about 37 in 1957, who tended Bejoy's father Sanatan when he had gone down with an attack of typhoid in 1955 or thereabouts, became 'thi