The court ruled that sufficient evidence must be presented in divorce cases, particularly regarding non-consummation and claims of mental health, failing which relief cannot be granted.

JUDGMENT

This civil miscellaneous appeal is filed by the appellant, challenging the order passed by the learned Additional District Judge's Court (FTC), Tenkasi in I.D.O.P.No.181 of 2023.

2. For the sake of convenience, the parties here to are mentioned as per their ranking before the Learned Trial Court.

3. The husband was the petitioner before the learned Trial Court and the respondent is his wife. The respondent wife has preferred this Civil Miscellaneous Appeal challenging the order passed in I.D.O.P.No. 181 of 2023 dated 07.11.2024. The petitioner husband filed a petition for divorce under Section 10(1)(vii) and 10(1)(x) of Indian Divorce Act, 1869, seeking to dissolve the marriage solemnized between him and the respondent wife on 09.11.2018.

4. The gist of the case as averred in the petition for divorce is as follows:

(i) The marriage between the petitioner husband and the respondent wife was conducted on 09.11.2018 at Punitha Arulappar Church, Avudaiyanoor village in the presence of elders and relatives according to the Christian rites and practices. The marriage was an arranged marriage. Thereafter, the petitioner and the respondent together registered their marriage on 31.12.2018 at Pavoorchatram Sub Registry.

(ii) The petitioner is an Engineer, and he is working as a Software Engineer. The respondent is an Engineer who holds a Bachelor of Technology (Mechanical), a Master of Technology and a doctoral degree in Engineering. She is presently employed as an Assistant Professor at K.S. Rengaswamy Engineering College, K.S.R.Education Nagar, Thiruchengode Taluk, Namakkal District. From the very instance of marriage, the respondent was not interested in leading a happy family life. She had declared that she had no belief in the family system and also refused to live in harmony with the petitioner. Though the petitioner was patiently handling her with the fond hope that the respondent would learn the nuances of marriage in due course of time, he suffered untold mental agony because of the respondent's attitude. Very often, the respondent left from her matrimonial home to her maternal home.

(iii) The respondent's father citing the prevailing family problems in the petitioner's family, fraudulently instigated the petitioner to execute a settlement deed with respect to his properties in favor of the respondent. In this regard, the petitioner has filed a suit for recovery of property in O.S. No. 344 of 2023 on the file of the Principal Subordinate Judge's Court at Tenkasi and the same is pending. While being so, on 10.11.2021, the respondent permanently left her matrimonial home and settled in her maternal home. All the advices and efforts taken by the petitioner for a reconciliation, proved futile. In fact, the petitioner's effort to give psychological counselling through a Psychologist to the respondent also proved futile.

(iv) The respondent categorically declared that she is not ready to live with him even for namesake. Shocked by the revelations of the respondent, the petitioner is suffering from a mental and physical trauma that he is not even able to carry forward his day-to-day affairs of life normally. The respondent's deeds and activities are legally and socially unacceptable and she has been living away from him, separated, for a period of more than two years in her parents' home. As a result of which, the petitioner has lost hope and a mindset has been imbibed in him to such an extent that he could no longer live with her anymo