The main legal point established is that acts of cruelty and desertion under the Hindu Marriage Act must be proven based on the specific circumstances and conduct of the parties involved.

RAJESH BALIA, J. :- This appeal is directed against the order of Family Court, Udaipur dated 3-3-2004, rejecting the application under Section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act for dissolution of marriage filed by the appellant.

2. Marriage of the appellant husband and respondent was solemnized on 28-1-1993 at Udaipur. According to averments made in the application dated 3-10-2000 he has claimed dissolution of his marriage on the ground that the respondent wife has treated the petitioner and has conducted herself with cruelty towards the appellant and has deserted him by leaving the matrimonial home on 12-4-1996 and since then she has not returned to matrimonial home without any just and reasonable cause.

3. The facts which have been proved are that soon after marriage the wife has desired that the appellant should remain away from his parents and stay at Jaipur, with the mother of the respondent wife for which appellant was not agreeable. Since the appellant has declined to leave his parents as he was only son. She started creating problem in the house and often used to leave matrimonial home for going to Jaipur and would return only after forcing the petitioner to accept the unreasonable demands.

4. The final straw came on 12-4-1996 when the respondent went with his brother Girish Bajaj to Jaipur and did not return. The appellant has gone to Jaipur on 17-6-1996 to bring his wife but found that she has gone to Delhi. He went to Delhi but the wife refused to return with him. The appellant has entreated her by letter dated 27-5-1996 and 4-6-1996 and also through telegram dated 3-6-1996, to return to the matrimonial home, but she did not return. He also filed an application under Section 10 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, but the attitude of wife remained negative and she has harassed the petitioner by filing false reply to the application which also amounted to cruelty.

5. Thus, for the aforesaid reasons the petitioner has claimed dissolution of marriage as noticed above.

6. The wife in the reply has declined and has countered that it was her husband who has called his brother from Delhi to sent her with his brother and thereafter, he declined to call her back to his matrimonial home. She declined that her husband had any time since 12-4-1996 desired her to return to her matrimonial home. According to her the appellant has failed to prove his case both on the count of cruelty or for the separation for the period of more than two years at the time of filing of the petition. The application had been rejected vide judgment dated 3-3-2004.

7. On the pleadings of the parties three issues were framed firstly whether wife had treated the appellant with cruelty secondly whether the respondent wife has deserted her husband for more than two years before the date of filing of the application without any reasonable cause and lastly the relief.

8. So far as the first question is concerned that the wife has treated the husband with cruelty, the Family Court has found that the applicant has failed to prove any conduct of cruelty by wife towards him, and in our opinion, rightly so. Neither in the pleadings nor in the evidence, any material has come on record which could be considered as a cruelty on the part of wife whether by harassing the petitioner mentally or physically. Obviously, no allegation of physical manhandling has been attributed to wife. The only conduct of cruelty that has been alleged against the wife is the desire to live separate from her parents-in-law at Jaipur to look after her widowed mother. The appellant in his previous application captioned under Section 10 of the Hindu Marriage Act, had claimed for the dissolution of marriage. In this regard he has clearly stated that wife has desired that her husband take a transfer to Jaipur where her widowed mother is living alone, so that they can live together. A general expression of desire by the wife about arranging their affairs in a manner that like her husband she too could