The main legal point established is that allegations of cruelty in seeking dissolution of marriage must be substantiated with evidence, and the court will consider the conduct of both parties in determining the validity of such allegations.

JUDGMENT :

C. Saravanan, J.

(Prayer: This Civil Miscellanous Appeal filed under Section 19(1) of the Family Courts Act, to set aside the order dated 04.05.2018 passed by the Family Court, Vellore in F.C.O.P.No.3 of 2016.)

(Through Video Conferencing)

1. The appellant (husband) is aggrieved by the impugned Fair and Decretal Order dated 4.5.2018 passed by the Family Court at Vellore in F.C.O.P.No. 3 of 2016.

2. By the impugned Fair and Decretal Order, the Family Court has dismissed F.C.O.P.No.3 of 2016 filed by the appellant under Section 13 (1) (i-a) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 to dissolve the marriage solemnized between the appellant and the respondent (wife) on 12.09.2014 on the ground of cruelty.

3. The appellant had alleged in F.C.O.P.No.3 of 2016 that the relationship between the appellant and the respondent were strained and were not cordial and that the respondent left the matrimonial home within a period of 1 ½ months from the date of the marriage and never returned to the matrimonial home.

4. The appellant alleged that the respondent often quarreled with him. The appellant further stated that for the sake of good order and dignity and to maintain the status in the society, the appellant tolerated the abuses of the respondent.

5. It was further alleged that the appellant was abused and humiliated by the respondent in presence of her parents when he visited the respondent to enquire about her well being when he came to know that the respondent was pregnant and expecting their child.

6. It was further alleged that the respondent’s parents also scolded and abused the appellant's parents and that during the month of October 2015 and the respondent’s father had allegedly attacked the appellant’s parents and only after the appellant’s mother had made a telephonic complaint to the Viruthampattu Police Station, Vellore District, the respondent’s parents left the appellant’s house.

7. The other allegation leveled against the respondent was that before the marriage, the respondent was working in Bank of Ceylon in Chennai and allegedly had an affair with her classmate (name not disclosed for the sake of privacy) which fact was suppressed and that the respondent continued to be in touch with the said person even after the marriage.

8. The appellant further alleged that the respondent showed no interest in marital life even after the marriage and he was forced to lead a life of celibate.

9. It was further alleged that the respondent continued to have telephonic conversation secretly with her classmate (paramour) even after the marriage and whenever the appellant confronted the respondent, he got evasive replies from the respondent and she would get aggressive and shout at the appellant.

10. In this appeal, it was submitted on behalf of the appellant that the Family Court erred in dismissing the F.C.O.P.No.3 of 2016 filed by the appellant. It is submitted that the evidence on record and the deposition of the witnesses overwhelmingly demonstrated that the respondent was a troublesome person prone to picking up quarrel for trivial and sundry reasons as was evident from the contradictory statements made by the respondent in the counter statement and during oral evidence before the Family Court.

11. It is further submitted that the Family Court failed to note the dispute between the appellant and the respondent were not due to ordinary wear and tear of family life, but on account of cruelty by the respondent on the appellant and the institution of marriage between the appellant and the respondent had irretrievably broken.

12. The respondent in her counter denied the allegations and submitted that at the time of the marriage, the appellant was unemployed and that the parents of the appellant had promised to set up “Sai Balaji Diary Unit's and that the marriage was celebrated with extravagance by spending a huge sum of Rs.50 lakhs considering the status of the respondent’s family and the educational qualification of the appellant and the respondent.

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