IMPORTANT POINT
On consideration of complete matrimonial life of parties, acute mental pain, agony and suffering as would not make possible for the parties to live with each other would come within the broad parameters of mental cruelty.

K.S. Appa Rao, J.—This civil Miscellaneous Appeal is filed by the respondent-husband against the order, dared 29-03-2004 passed in H.M.O.P. No.34 of 2002 on the file of the Principal Senior Civil Judge, Tirupati. The petitioner herein is the respondent in the said O.P. For convenience sake, the parties hereinafter will be referred to as they were arrayed in the O.P.

2. The petitioner-wife filed the said O.P. before the lower Court. under Sections 13(l)(ia) and (ib) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Act’) to grant divorce by dissolving the marriage between herself and the respondent. The averments of the petition, which are necessary for the disposal of this appeal, read as follows:

The marriage between the petitioner and the respondent took. place on 16-02-1990 at Padmavathi Kalyanamandapam. Tiruchanur , as per Hindu Rites and Customs and the petitioner joined the respondent at matrimonial house at Kamasamudram immediately after the marriage. The respondent was working in Canara Bank, Mulabagai, and he used to attend the office from Kamasamudram. The petitioner and the respondent lived together for a period of one year at Kamasamudram village. During the period of stay at Kamasamudram, the respondent subjected the petitioner to all sorts of his sadistic behaviour and used to lock the house by keeping her inside the house in a very suspicious manner about her character, for which the petitioner suffered lot of mental agony with his behaviour. In 1991, she came to Tirupati for studies and again joined the respondent in 1992-93. In the year 1993, she secured job in LIC at KGF and both the petitioner and the respondent lived together, but there was no change in the attitude of the respondent. On 16-02-1994, the petitioner secured a job in State Bank of India, Jammalamadugu and she stayed there in the house of one Jhansi who is their family friend, and while so, she became pregnant and obtained medical leave and joined her parents at Tirupati on the advice of the respondent. The respondent suspected her pregnancy whether she conceived through him as she was at Jammalamaugu. Later, the petitioner was posted at Palamaner on 04-07-1995, and both of them lived there together. The respondent used to visit the bank premises, where the petitioner was working, and make enquiries with regard to her character from her colleagues and others of that locality and put her through a lot of embarrassment. Further, whenever the petitioner came late to the house from the Bank, he used to question her, with whom he slept and enjoyed that time. He used to check the petitioner and her clothes. Likewise whenever she is’ in sound sleep, he used to kick her and asked her. with. whom she enjoyed on that date. Whenever he came late to the house, he used to check the bed, etc. Day by day his adamant attitude increased. There were occasions when the respondent made her sit outside the house throughout nights. For the welfare of her child, the petitioner accepted all the cruel behaviour till June, 2000. In June, 2000, the respondent grew wild and beat her and her child and left the matrimonial house and till the date of filing the O.P., he did not turn up. The respondent took away gold jewellery worth R.60,000/- by stating that he had to meet the house construction expenses at Bangalore. Therefore, the petitioner had no option except to seek the divorce.

3. The respondent filed counter affidavit denying all the averments made in the affidavit filed by the petitioner and stated that the petitioner is put to strict proof of the said allegations made against him. He further stated that all those allegations are made at the instance of the parents of the petitioner only, but not by the petitioner. They are trying to separate them. He looked after the petitioner very affectionately and he never behaved adamantly towards her. He provided all the requirements to the family members of the petitioner by spending his entire inco