The main legal point established in the judgment is the concept of irretrievable breakdown of marriage and the impact of criminal and other proceedings on the parties, leading to the grant of divorce based on the grounds of cruelty and desertion.

ORDER

Ritu Bahri, J. - The appellant-husband has come up in appeal before this Court, seeking setting aside of judgment dated 19.09.2018 passed by District Judge, Addl. Family Court, Karnal, whereby the petition filed by him under Section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 (for short 'Act 1955'), for dissolution of marriage between the parties by decree of divorce on the grounds of cruelty and desertion, has been dismissed.

2. Brief facts of the case as recorded by the Family Court reads as under:-

'The marriage between the parties was solemnized on 02.07.1979 according to Hindu rites and ceremonies at village Shekhupura Khalsa, Tehsil Gharaunda, District Kamal and a female child was born from the wed-lock. The behaviour of the respondent was not good towards the petitioner and his family members and she started pressurizing the petitioner to separate from his family as she was not willing to live in a joint family. The respondent used to quarrel with the petitioner and his family members on one pretext or the other. The appellant was not in a position to separate from his family as his elder brother and his wife were also living in a joint family along with his parents. Also the petitioner was dependent upon the income of his parents. In the monthly of June 1983, the respondent along with her maternal uncle namely Surja left the house of the petitioner on the pretext of participating in the marriage of her cousin's daughter at village Bijewa, district Panipat. The respondent left her one year old minor daughter with the petitioner and thereafter, she did not return to the matrimonial home. The respondent took all her valuable clothes and ornaments with her. After about 20 days, the father of the respondent and her maternal uncle Surja came to the house of the petitioner and demanded Rs. 50,000/- from the father of the petitioner on the ground that he had entered into an agreement to purchase agricultural land but was short of money. When the father of the petitioner expressed his inability to arrange the money, the father of the respondent got annoyed and left the house after expressing great resentment. After 2-2 % months, the petitioner came to know that the respondent had reached her parental home and when he went there to bring her back, her parents refused to send her as the father of the petitioner had not given them financial help for purchase of the land. The respondent also expressed her resentment. The petitioner and his father convened a Panchayat at the house of the respondent and the Panchayat members made efforts to bring the respondent back to the matrimonial home but in vain. One week thereafter, the petitioner again went to the house of the respondent in order to bring her back to the matrimonial home but he was given beatings by the uncles of the respondent namely Maha Singh and Daya Singh and her brothers namely Jagbir Singh and Balwan Singh and he was turned out of the house. The petitioner sent a registered notice to the respondent on 15.07.1986 advising her to return to the matrimonial home but this enraged her family members and they made several attempts to kill the petitioner and for this purpose they made secret visits to the village of the petitioner at odd hours. The appellant was saved with the grace of God and was constrained to make complaints to the police regarding his apprehension of grave danger to his life. The respondent and her parents were not ready to resolve the dispute and relations between the parties broke down making it impossible for resumption of matrimonial relations between them. Ultimately the appellant filed a petition under Section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act on the ground of cruelty and desertion at Sonipat and the said petition was transferred to Rohtak where it was dismissed on 09.02.1991. The appellant filed an appeal against the impugned judgment and decree but that too was dismissed on 05.02.2003. Thereafter, the appellant filed another petition under Section 13 of the H