JOYTOSH BANERJEE - (1.) This appeal is directed against the judgment passed by the learned Additional District Judge, 14th Court, Alipore, 24-Parganas(S) on 1-8-1989 in Matrimonial Suit No.32 of 1987 by which the learned Court below dissolved the marriage between the parties of the suit underthe Hindu Marriage Act, by a decree of divorce. The said suit was filed by the husband/respondent on 7th of October, 1985 on the allegations of cruelty under S.13(I)(ia) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.
(2.) Briefly stated the case of the plaintiff/ respondent is as follows :- The marriage of the parties was solemnized according to Hindu rites and ceremonies on 9th February, 1982. At the time of the marriage wife /appellant was residing with her father at Udaipur, Rajasthan where she was born and brought up. During their stay at the official quarters provided by Durgapur Steel Plant after the marriage, the wife/appellant showed unusual habits and temperament and behaved with the husband/ respondent very rudely with absolute indifference towards the need of the husband/ respondent. She demonstrated abnormal sexual behaviour from the very beginning of the marriage. She was found very much selfish and self-centered. She did not care to look after the household duties, and as a result, the husband /respondent had to leave for his office on many occasions without any breakfast or to prepare breakfast for himself. In most of the evenings, the wife/respondent was staying away from the house on various pretexts and the respondent had to go out for night duty without taking meal. It is further alleged that the attempts of the respondent to persuade his wife to change her attitude and behaviour towards him were reacted with sharp unmannerly expression that being the daughter of a richman and not a servant in the respondent family she should be at liberty to act according to her own liking. The appellant/wife, went to Udaipur for sometime in the year, 1982 and on her return from there in or about June, 1982 she expressed resentment over the staying of the mother of the respondent who was staying with him at Durgapur and wanted him to send her back to Calcutta. On being refused, the wife/appellant started causing mental and physical torture upon the husband by not allowing him to take rest or sleep throughout the whole day after working in the night duty in a wretched mental and physical condition. As a result of which, the husband became seriously ill and he had to be hospitalised for about one month during the period July and August, 1982. It is further alleged that during this period, the old mother of the respondent was required to do all house hold works including cooking and she was subjected to extreme torture and ill-behaviour by the wife/ appellant and even did not care to visit her husband in the hospital and during the period when the respondent remain admitted in the hospital she visited such hospital only for once or twice. It is the further allegation that respondent suffered very severe mental distress when in December, 1982, he came to know that the wife/appellant was suffering from Kleptomania. It is the further allegation of the plaintiff/respondent that being aware of the pregnancy of the wife/appellant in or about January, 1984, the respondent took all necessary steps for her medical examination by a competent doctor at Durgapur Steel Plant Hospital. But for some unknown reasons, the appellant became more furious and cruel in her dealing and behaviour with him. She tried to set him on fire by pouring kerosene oil on his person. It is further case of the respondent/ plaintiff that the appellant/wife gave birth to a daughter at new Land Nursing Home on 26th September, 1984 wherefrom, the appellant/wife was taken to her parents house at Naktala, Calcutta. The husband/respondent was meted out with ill treatment and insult by the wife/appellant and her mother during the former's visit to Naktala house without any reason. During the 'Annaprasan' ceremony of the child, the wife/appellant acted and behaved in utter disregard to the sentiment of the husband/respondent and his relatives when she even did not accede to their request to attend ailing father of the respondent by staying at his brother's residence at Salt Lake, Calcutta. During subsequent visit at Naktala House, the wife/appellant not only ill-treated the husband/ respondent, but also asked to seek divorce as she found herself incapable of mending her ways by restraining herself from treating the respondent and his relatives with cruelty. When the husband/respondent expressed his deep concern for child, the wife appellant declared that the child was begotten by some one else. She enjoyed the pain and agony suffered by the husband/respondent resulting from such utterance. It is the specific allegation made by the husband/ respondent that through the period of her stay with her husband she insisted for a divorce on the ground of her hatred towards the respondent and his family. She also threatened to kill the husband for the purpose of securing her freedom. She also wroteto the elder brother of the husband/respondent to arrange for dissolution of marriage.
(3.) The wife/appellant contested the suit on a written statement denying all the material allegations raised in the plaint. The wife/appellant on the other hand alleged in the written statement that when the respondent/husband came to know about the pregnancy of the wife, he expressed that he did not like any child and therefore the appellant/wife should abort the child. But the appellant/wife did not agree to the proposal of the abortion and thereafter the husband/respondent started abusing and ill-treating the wife/appellant in various ways.;