The Family Court erred by dissolving the marriage based on irretrievable breakdown, not recognized under the Hindu Marriage Act, and failed to apply statutory criteria for divorce, specifically cruelty and desertion.

JUDGMENT :

Rongon Mukhopadhyay, J.

Heard Mr. Sheo Kumar Singh, learned counsel for the appellant and Mr. Hemant Kr. Shikarwar, learned counsel for the respondent.

2. This appeal is directed against the judgment and decree dated 28.01.2023 (decree signed on 02.02.2023) passed by Shri Alok Kumar Dubey, learned Principal Judge, Family Court, Bokaro in Original Suit No. 527 of 2022, whereby and whereunder, the suit preferred by the respondent herein has been allowed and the marriage between the parties have been dissolved.

3. For the sake of convenience both the parties are referred to in this judgment as per their status before the learned Trial Court.

4. The petitioner/husband (respondent herein) had filed a suit for dissolution of his marriage with the respondent/wife (appellant herein) u/s 13(1) (i) (ia) (ib) of the HINDU MARRIAGE ACT , 1955, wherein it has been stated that the marriage between the petitioner and the respondent was solemnized on 29.05.2019 as per Hindu Rites and Customs at Sector-V Club in Bokaro. The parties do not have any issue out of the said wedlock. The petitioner is an Engineer who works in Pune while the respondent is the daughter of a Police Inspector who is a spoiled woman with fits of anger and a prickly nature and she works in a private firm in Bangalore. After the marriage was solemnized, the petitioner had taken the respondent to Pune on 05.06.2019 and on 08.06.2019, the respondent left for her workplace at Bangalore. It has been stated that post-marriage the families of the petitioner as well as the respondent wanted the respondent to leave her job at Bangalore and take up a job at Pune and the sister and brother-in-law of the respondent had arranged for a job for the respondent at Pune but the respondent postponed taking a final decision on one pretext or the other. The respondent had stayed with the petitioner for a day on 20.07.2019 when she had come to meet her mother who had come to Pune to meet her other daughter Ranu Pathak and son- in-law Prem Pathak. The petitioner had arranged for a job for the respondent having a good salary and had also prepared the respondent for the written test and the respondent qualified in the exam and since the interview was to be held online the respondent left for Bangalore. However, when the HR of the Company had called the respondent on several occasions for the interview she deliberately did not pick up the phone. The respondent wanted to stay in Bangalore and she used to reside with a roommate in PG Hostel and she became addicted to drugs at the behest of her roommate. It has been stated that the respondent stopped conversing on phone with the petitioner. In August, 2019 the respondent had gone to Nandi Hills on a motorcycle and since the petitioner was worried he had called the respondent several times but she did not pick up the phone and in the evening the respondent called up the petitioner on phone and on a furious note she stated that she is an independent person having her own desires and is not shackled by any bindings. The respondent conducted herself as per her whims and she did not listen to anyone. It has further been stated that on 12.10.2019 which was the birthday of the respondent the petitioner had purchased gifts and wanted to surprise the respondent for which he had gone to the PG Hostel of the respondent along with her brother and was shocked to see drugs scattered in her room. The petitioner expressed his desire to spend some time with the respondent but she refused and she did not even heed the advice of her moth