( 1 ) THIS is an appeal against the judgment and order dated the 22nd February, 1991 in Matrimonial Suit No. 6/1985 passed by the learned Additional District Judge, 11th Court, Alipore, granting decree of divorce under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 in favour of the petitioner- husband and against the wife on the ground of cruelty of the wife. The husband who is respondent herein filed the suit for divorce on the ground of desertion and cruelty. The parties are Sikh by religion and are governed by the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. They were married according to Sikh rites and ceremonies on or about 23rd January, 1970 at 2/3a, Panditiya Road, Calcutta-29. Their marriage was consummated and two sons were born in that wedlock, - one on 28th May, 1972 and the other on 17th September, 1974. Both the sons however have, by now, crossed their minority and have attained majority. At the time of the marriage the petitioner was in service in the Security Force as an Assistant Company Commander. It was a negotiated marriage.

( 2 ) IT is the case of the petitioner-husband that after the marriage, the petitioner returned to the place of his posting at Doomdooma (Assam) and the wife refused to accompany him on several pleas and ultimately she went there, but she stayed there only for a period of two months and that as she did not like the service of the petitioner in the Force the petitioner-husband resigned from the Security Force in 1971 and took up civilian life, and came down to Calcutta and started living with his parents at 95a, Bangur Avenue, but as the wife maintained that she disliked living with in-laws and she did not live with the petitioner at his parents place for more than a week at a stretch; the petitioner joined the Western Indian Match Co. Ltd. as Security Officer in August, 1971 and was allotted residential quarters in the factory premises, but the wife had the idea that the job of a Security Officer was a job of Darwan and a sophisticated lady could not live in the Darwan's quarters; that however due to earnest request of the petitioner, the wife lived in the said quarters for a few days on occasions at intervals when she conceived for the first time after more than a year of the marriage; that in 1973 the wife joined B. Ed. Course at Shri Shikshayatan against the wishes of the petitioner and on the plea that the college was near her parents' house she lived mostly with her parents and she neglected her household and partial duties and lived with the petitioner rarely and also almost always, the petitioner had to cook and do domestic chores and she even did not allow the petitioner to spend nights in her parents' house; that as the wife did not like the petitioner's service as a Security Officer he resigned from the job in December, 1973 and rented a separate flat at 112, Bangur Avenue as the wife did not like to live with the in-laws; that the wife lived in the rented flat on rare occasions and by that time she conceived again and later in July, 1974 she left for her parent's place on health ground and during her pregnancy and even after the confinement the wife refused to come and live with the petitioner; that she took up a job of teacher against the wishes of the petitioner and that became an additional plea for her to refuse to come back; that the petitioner had in the meantime started a transport business and his avocation did not leave for him enough time to cook his own food, that the wife always misbehaved with the petitioner and she always used to say that she was not married to serve the petitioner's parents and she habitually insulted the petitioner as being an army brute; that the wife is a westernised lady with individualistic tastes and she hated living a docile domestic life confined within four walls, cooking food and. . . . for the family; that after the child birth the respondent persistently refused access to the petitioner and she was living with her parents and refused to