A wife has a reasonable and just cause to withdraw from the company of her husband if she has a reasonable apprehension that her life would be in danger if she returned to him.

( 1 ) SMT. Shahina Parveen wife of Mohd. Shakeel is not satisfied with the Judgment of S. P. Singh Chaudhary, Additional District Judge, Delhi, dated 28th January, 1983, whereby the husband s Suit for restitution of conjugal rights was decreed. She has come up in Second Appeal before this Court praying for the restoration of the order of dismissal of the Suit.

( 2 ) IN order to appreciate the various contentions raised in this appeal, it will be advantageous to keep in mind the salient features of the controversy between the parties. On 12-3-1981, Mohd. Shakeel filed a suit for restitution of conjugal rights in the Court of Senior Sub-Judge, Delhi, on the averments that he was married to the defendant Shahina Parveen on 12th November, 1979 according to Muslims Rites of Sunni Sect; that they continued to enjoy a peaceful married life for quite sometime. The in-laws of the plaintiff persuaded the defendant to prevail upon the plaintiff to permanently stay at the defendant s parental abode instead of residing at her Sasural: the plaintiff refused the proposal: that thereafter the defendant in conspiracy with her parents devised a plan to live separately from the plaintiff, that in the pursuance of the said conspiracy the parents of the defendant approached the plaintiff and his father to allow the defendant to attend the marriage at Meerut; that the plaintiff without suspecting ; any foul play allowed the defendant to attend the said marriage and he also provided her with some money that thereafter for about 10/15 days, the plaintiff asked the defendant to return to his residence but she refused on some pretext or the other. However, on the intervention of the relations and friends of the plaintiff, the parents of the defendant agreed to send her back after the delivery of the child; that a baby girl was born to the defendant on 21-11-1984 and after the period of isolation, the defendant again refused to come to the house of the plaintiff. Feeling aggrieved from the behaviour of the defendant and her parents, the plaintiff sent a letter to his wife on 5-11-1980 asking her to return to the matrimonial home; that in spite of the receipt of the letter, the defendant neither returned nor sent any reply; that on 15-12-1980, when the plaintiff approached the defendant and her parents for the return of his wife and the baby, he was physically assaulted by the inmates of his in-laws house, as a result of which he suffered injuries; that the Police case under Section 107/151, Criminal Procedure Code was registered against both the parties and a separate case under Section 324/34, Indian Penal Code against the assailants; that the said complaints are pending; thus being disgusted and frustrated the plaintiff ultimately sent a legal notice through his counsel requiring the defendant to return to her matrimonial home but in spite of the receipt of the notice, she has failed to come and live with the plaintiff, and left with no other option, the plaintiff filed the suit praying for the passing of a decree for restitution of conjugal rights against the defendant.

( 3 ) THE defendant in her written statement raised the preliminary objections, inter alia, that no cause of action has arisen for filing the suit, that the plaintiff has not come to the Court with clean hands; and that the plaintiff never cared to keep and maintain the defendant and in fact turned her out of the matrimonial home in wearing apparels after giving her severe beating.

( 4 ) ON merits, she took up the stand that at the time of her marriage, her parents gave huge dowry to the plaintiff who in fact was not satisfied with the same and pressed for more dowry. That as the demands of the plaintiff could not be met; he started giving severe beatings to the plaintiff (defendant?) and after a period of two months, turned her out of the matrimonial home; that the plaintiff illegally retained all the dowry articles, including jewellery and valuable clothes; that t