A marriage can be dissolved on grounds of irretrievable breakdown and cruelty when the parties have lived apart for an extended period and reconciliation is deemed impossible.

JUDGMENT :

Namavarapu Rajeshwar Rao, J.

Heard Sri K. Ramchandra, learned counsel for the appellant and Sri C.S.N. Raju, learned counsel for the respondent.

2. The present appeal is filed by the appellant/husband challenging the order and decree dated 15.03.2016 in H.M.O.P. No.22 of 2015 on the file of the Senior Civil Judge, Shadnagar, whereby the trial Court dismissed the petition filed by the petitioner/husband under Section 13(1)(ia) and (iii) of the HINDU MARRIAGE ACT 1955 seeking dissolution of his marriage with the respondent/wife.

3. For convenience, the parties are hereinafter referred to as they are arrayed before the trial Court.

4. The brief facts of the case are that the petitioner’s marriage of the with the respondent was solemnized on 22.05.2013 at Kuntlarami Reddy function hall, Chatanpally, as per Hindu customs. Soon after marriage, the couple went to Vaddvalli village, where the petitioner showed his willingness to have physical attachment with the respondent, but the respondent avoided the same. The respondent harassed the petitioner by maintaining silence without talking. She was always murmuring in her own method according to her own choice. The petitioner took a house on rent at Anakapalli to lead a conjugal life, but the respondent refused to come and did not cooperate with her pungent nature. The petitioner’s family members and the elders advised the respondent to lead a conjugal life with better hope, but she did not heed their advice. The respondent left the petitioner’s company on 07.07.2013. The petitioner issued registered notices to the respondent on 21.05.2014 and 24.06.2014, respectively, and she received the same and gave a false reply. As such, he filed the present petition for divorce on the grounds of cruelty and mental disorder.

5. The respondent filed a counter stating that at the time of marriage, the parents of the respondent gave five lakh cash and also fifty thousand Adapaduchu katnam to the sister of the petitioner. During the marriage, twenty tulas of gold articles were presented by her parents, which are in the custody of the petitioner and his mother. The petitioner behaved like a psycho with the respondent and created terror on the very first night. The respondent tolerated the same and continued her marital life with the petitioner. The marriage of the petitioner with the respondent is against his will, and the petitioner and his family used to harass the respondent, saying that she is not match to the petitioner and demanded additional dowry. During the nights, the petitioner used to behave with the respondent peculiarly like a beast and used to talk indecent manner like anything.

6. The petitioner and his family members asked the respondent to sell away the Ac.3.00 land in Kothavaripalem and gave the amount to them to start a business. When the petitioner intended to put up a separate family at Anakapally, he demanded her to bring two lakh rupees. Her father requested some time, but the petitioner, his mother and his sister had beaten the respondent on 08.04.2014. On 12.04.2014, the petitioner left the respondent in the house of his relatives in Hyderabad. Now, the respondent is ready to petitioner’s company. She had not committed any cruelty against the petitioner. Accordingly, prayed to dismiss the petition.

7. To prove his case, the petitioner got examined PWs 1 to 3, and no document was marked. On behalf of the respondent, she got examined RWs. 1 and 2 and got marked Ex.R1 and R2. Based on the evidence available on record, the trial Court dismissed the O.P.

8. Learned counsel for the appellant submitted that the trial Court did n