Back
BOMBAY HIGH COURT
A.S. Chandurkar and N.B. Suryawanshi, JJ.
Rajendra —Appellant
versus
Sou. Leena Rajendra Sanap —Respondent
Family Court Appeal No.11 of 2016
Decided on 21.1.2021
Counsel for the Parties:
For the Appellant:Shri A.D. Girdekar, Advocate
For the Respondent: None
IMPORTANT POINT
Divorce—Cruelty and mental illness of wife—When appellant was alleging that respondent was suffering from schizophrenia, higher degree of proof was required to prove said allegation.
Headnote:
Hindu Marriage Act, 1955—Section 13 (1) (i-a) (iii)—Divorce—Cruelty and mental illness of wife—It was for appellant to prove that respondent had been incurably of unsound mind, or had been suffering continuously or intermittently from mental disorder of such a kind and to such an extent that appellant could not reasonably be expected to live with respondent—Appellant was under obligation to prove that respondent was suffering from schizophrenia and that behaviour of respondent was aggressive or seriously irresponsible and respondent had been suffering continuously or intermittently from mental disorder of such a kind and to such an extent that appellant could not reasonably be expected to live with respondent— When appellant was alleging that respondent was suffering from schizophrenia, higher degree of proof was required to prove said allegation—Appellant has miserably failed to prove that respondent was suffering from schizophrenia or any kind of mental disorder or psychological state of mind, which was not capable of being cured and that it was dangerous for him to stay with her—Appellant has failed to prove cruelty meted out to him by respondent—Family Court has properly appreciated evidence and has recorded correct findings and has rightly dismissed petition of appellant by a reasoned order—Appeal dismissed. (Paras 12 to 17)
Result: Appeal dismissed.
JUDGMENT
N.B. Suryawanshi, J.—This appeal filed by the appellant-husband under Section 19 of the Family Courts Act, 1984 challenges the judgment of the Family Court, Amravati dismissing the Petition No. A-319/2009 filed by the appellant-husband seeking divorce.
2. Facts, in brief, leading to this appeal are as follows :
Appellant-husband filed Petition No. A-319/2009 under Section 13 (1) (i-a) (iii) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 inter alia contending that his marriage with wife Leena was solemnized on 29.04.1997 at Amravati as per Hindu Rights and Customs. Out of the wedlock, sons Rahul, aged 12 years and Dewashish, aged 4½ years were born. The marriage expenses were borne by the husband. Since wife came for cohabitation at the husband’s house, her behaviour was whimsical, she used to quarrel, give abuses, she was not doing the household work and used to give cruel treatment to the family members of the husband, which was causing constant mental harassment to the husband and his family members. The wife had deprived the husband from mental and physical happiness. The husband informed about the behaviour of the wife to her parents and at that time he came to know from them that since prior to the marriage she was suffering from psychological ailment and sometimes her mental balance used to be disturbed. However, this fact was suppressed from him and his family members by the wife’s parents. The parents of the wife tried to pacify and convince the husband. Elder persons from both the families decided to give medical treatment to the wife. The husband accepted the said decision considering the future of their married life and of the children. The wife was sent to her maternal home and was given treatment of Dr. Pramod Thakare, Psychiatrist, Akola. However, there was no change in the behaviour of the wife, on the contrary, her mental ailment worsened. The wife used to talk irrelevant things, bring outside garbage in the house, she used to refuse to serve food to the husband and children and used to quarrel with them. The husband therefore took her for treatment to Psychiatrist Dr. Shrikant Deshmukh. However, in spite of the treatment, the whimsicalness of the wife increased. She used to throw away the medicines prescribed by the Doctor. He further averred that cohabitation with the wife became dangerous and difficult for him as she was physically and mentally unable to cohabit with him. Because of all these circumstances, the husband called younger brother of the wife at Amravati and along with him reached the wife at her paternal home in the month of August-2009 prior to the ‘Rakhi Pournima’ and since then the wife was staying at her parents house. On the basis of these pleadings, the husband prayed for decree of divorce.
3. The wife appeared and resisted the claim of the husband by filing written statement. Except the marriage and birth of two sons, she denied all the allegations of the husband. According to her, the husband wanted to perform second marriage. He always used to abuse, beat her and used to pass bad comments against her. The husband used to come home in drunken condition from his duty and due to instigation of his mother used to mercilessly beat her. Twice he tried to strangulate her. Due to the beating she suffered cut injury to her ear and she was required to take Doctor’s treatment. Since then she developed a hearing problem. On 5.8.2009, at the time of ‘Rakhi Pournima’, husband had mercilessly beaten her and pressed her neck, at that time, father-in-law rescued her from the husband. The husband on false pretext without informing her used to take her to the Psychiatrist and used to force her to take medicines. She was not suffering from any ailment and she was mentally and physically fit. She was mother of two sons and she was taking proper care of them, however, as the husband wanted to perform another marriage, with a view to get rid of her, he was trying to brand her as a mental case. She further contende
