IMPORTANT POINT
Long separation and failure to perform marital duties can constitute grounds for divorce under the Hindu Marriage Act.

JUDGMENT :

(J. Nisha Banu, J.) :

(Prayer: Civil Miscellaneous Appeals are filed under Section 19 of the Family Court Act praying to set aside the common fair and decreetal order passed in F.C.O.P.Nos.211 & 221 of 2018 dated 26.04.2022 on the file of the learned Judge, Family Court, Erode.)

Since the issue involved in both the appeals are one and the same, they are disposed of by this common judgment.

2. Civil Miscellaneous Appeals have been preferred as against the common fair and decreetal order passed in F.C.O.P. Nos.211 and 221 of 2018 on the file of Family Court, Erode dated 26.04.2022, wherein the appellant/husband has filed a petition under Section 13(1) (i-a) of the Hindu Marriage Act seeking to dissolve the marriage, whereas the respondent/wife has filed a petition under section 9 of the Hindu Marriage Act, seeking a decree of restitution of conjugal rights. Aggrieved against the dismissal of the petition filed by the appellant, and granting of the relief of conjugal rights to the respondent, the appellant has preferred the present civil miscellaneous appeals before this Court.

3. Mr. Mukunth, learned Senior Counsel, appearing for Mr.A.Tamilarasan, learned counsel for the appellant made the following submissions:-

3.1. The marriage between the appellant and the respondent was solemnized on 27.05.2007 at Erode as per Hindu rites and customs. Both the appellant and the respondent started their marital life at the appellant's house at Rama Vilas, Kappala House, Aikala Post, Dakshina Kannad, Karnataka State. No child was born out of their wedlock.

3.2. According to the learned counsel for the appellant, the respondent/wife was arrogant and she did not respect the appellant and his mother. She used to get dejected when the relatives of the appellant visit their house and she refused to allow them inside the house. While so, without any valid reasons, on 17.01.2017, the respondent left from the matrimonial home and started to reside with her parents.

3.3. Even after conducting of several Panchayats in the presence of elders and well-wishers, the respondent refused to live with the appellant. Left with no other alternative, the appellant issued a legal notice dated 16.05.2018 calling upon the respondent for giving her consent for mutual divorce, but the respondent did not respond to the request and she issued a false reply vide notice dated 20.05.2018.

3.4. The main grounds raised by the learned Senior Counsel is that even though the allegations leveled up by the appellant against the respondent were proved through the evidence of R.W.1 to R.W.3, the Court below failed to consider the same before passing the order. The respondent was always in the habit of abusing and ill-treating the appellant, age old mother and his relatives. The respondent disliked the appellant's mother staying with them and she has even beaten up the appellant's mother, which in turn has caused mental cruelty to the appellant.

3.5. Moreover, the respondent frequently picked up quarrels with the appellant and threatened him that she would commit suicide after creating evidence against him. Therefore, the appellant always lived a life of fear, facing the threatening of the respondent. More than a decade, there was no child born to them. Hence, both the appellant and the respondent decided to undergo medical treatment. Even when the appellant acquired appointment for several times in reputed hospitals at Mangalore, the respondent purposefully avoided the same and postponed the appointments, thereby not co-operating for the medical treatment. Meanwhile, on 17.01.2017, with any valid reasons, the respondent left from the matrimonial home and started to reside with her parents.

3.6. The learned Senior Counsel further submitted that the respondent, without any material or facts, alleged that the appellant has filed the petition for divorce in order to marry another lady, thereby causing cruelty to the appellant. When the respondent left the matrimonial home on 1