S. S. GANGULY, J.

( 1 ) THIS first appeal has been preferred by the wife-opposite party from the judgment and decree passed by the learned Additional District Judge, 3rd Court, Midnapore in Matrimonial Suit No. 9 of 1986 awarding thereby a decree of judicial separation in favour of the husband-petitioner.

( 2 ) THE petitioner the respondent henceforward was a primary school teacher at Midnapore town with his ancestral home at Panchkhuri under Midnapore P. S. and very near Midnapore town and the opposite party/ wife the appellant henceforward was a nurse posted at the primary health centre at Sabang within the district of Midnapore, when they were married on 22-5-83 according to Hindu Rites.

( 3 ) THE respondent's case as per his petition u/s. 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act is that after the marriage he brought the appellant to his ancestral home at Panchkhuri. She stayed with the respondent there till the date of Astamangla and thereafter she went away to her quarters attached to the primary health centre at Sabang. Thereafter the appellant spent only one or two nights with him at his home at Panchkhuri within a period of two months from the date of Astamangla and thereafter she never came back there and lived with him there on any other occasion. The respondent repeatedly went to Sabang on many occasions and requested her to come back to the matrimonial home for living with him there. The appellant not only did not come back to the matrimonial home but she also expressed her irritation and annoyance and ultimately she told him that she was compelled to marry him by her relations and that she wanted to lead a life free from the confines of the matrimonial home. She even told him not to visit her at Sabang. On 10-12-83 the respondent went to see her at Sabang when she treated him with great rudeness. At the night of that day the respondent felt sic with violent pain in his stomach and vomiting. He was sent back home on the day following and his family physician diagnosed his trouble as food-poisoning. The respondent suspected that the appellant had added poison to his food and thereafter he never dared to go to Sabang to visit her. He, however, wrote to her repeatedly requesting her to come back to Panchkhuri, but without any response from her. Thereafter when the appellant was transferred to the Sadar Hospital at Midnapore and started living in her quarters attached to that Hospital, the respondent and his well wishers met her there repeatedly and requested her to come back to Panchkhuri. On 18-9-85 the appellant turned down their requests and abused the respondent in filthy language. The respondent never met the appellant after that. In the circumstances stated the respondent filed his petition and prayed for divorce/ judicial separation on the ground of desertion with effect from 10-12-83 and also on the ground of cruelty.

( 4 ) THE appellant's case as per her written statement appears to be the following :-after her marriage the appellant went to her husband's place at Panchkhuri and started living there with the respondent as husband and wife. After sometime she noticed a change in the behaviour of the respondent who started torturing her physically as well as mentally without any reason. Subsequently she discovered a number of letters from the respondent's room and from those letters as well as on enquiry she learnt that since before the marriage the respondent had been carrying on an affair with a girl of the name of Nilima Maiti. Being asked by her, the respondent admitted all this and he also told her that he would marry the said Nilima. At her instance her husband's people contacted Nilima's father and he assured them that he would take appropriate steps but actually did nothing. Since the appellant was attached as a nurse to the primary health centre at Sabang, occasionally she used to go to the matrimonial home at Panchkhuri. On those occasions the respondent used to avoid her and go away elsewhere and he also use

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