- (1.) THIS first appeal is at the instance of a defendant/husband in a suit for divorce and is directed against the judgment and decree dated 23rd December, 1997, passed by the Additional District Judge, Fifth Court, Alipore, District south 24-Parganas, in Matrimonial Suit No. 36 of 1995 thereby passing a decree for divorce in favour of the plaintiff/wife on the ground of cruelty.
(2.) BEING dissatisfied, the defendant has come up with the present first appeal. During the pendency of this appeal, the original defendant/appellant having died, the second wife of the original defendant filed an application for being substituted in his place for the purpose of disputing the finding of the learned Trial Judge that they are existed relationship of husband and wife between the plaintiff and the original defendant. A Division Bench of this Court substituted the said second wife in place of the original appellant and thus, the present appeal is now being proceeded with by the second wife of the original defendant.
(3.) THE plaintiff/respondent filed in the Trial Court a suit for divorce against the original defendant on the ground of cruelty and the case made out by the respondent may be summed up thus: (a) The parties were major citizens of India in 1959 and were married in the said year according to Hindu rites and ceremonies at village Shyampur, p. O. Gazipur, P. S. Kulpi, within the jurisdiction of the Trial Court. (b) After the marriage, the parties resided together at the village Shyampur in the house of the parents of the wife for about 5/6 years. The father of the plaintiff used to maintain and bore the expenses of the education of the defendant who was without any service at that time. However, subsequently, the defendant came to his native village at Tulsir Chal within the Police Station Kulpi and started living there after constructing a house of his own and joined a local school as a teacher. (c) In the wedlock, the first child, namely, Jharna was born in 1964, the second child, namely, Sukanta was born in 1966 and the third child, aparna was born in 1968. (d) The defendant while serving in the school named Ramkrishnapur High school, which was a co-education school, came in acquaintance with a girl student named Jharna Halder. The defendant also used to privately coach her. (e) After such acquaintance with the said lady, namely, Jharna Halder, the defendant started misbehaving with the plaintiff and their children and neglected to maintain the son and daughters of the plaintiff. The plaintiff protested against such act and, as a result, the defendant physically assaulted the plaintiff and also the children. Considering the future maintenance and education of the children, the plaintiff remained silent and did not protest against such physical assault or other cruelties inflicted upon her by the respondent. (f) The defendant became so reckless that in the year 1969 or sometime in the first part of the year 1970, he brought the said lady, Jharna Halder, in the house of the plaintiff and started living with the said lady as husband and wife in front of the plaintiff and the children. The plaintiff protested against such bigamy of the defendant, as a result, he became furious and had beaten the plaintiff mercilessly almost every night in front of the children of the parties at the instigation of the said lady. Thereafter, the defendant had driven out the plaintiff and the children in the year 1971 and threatened them that if the plaintiff tried to come back to stay in the house of the defendant with her children, the defendant would kill the plaintiff and the children. (g) In the year 1974, the plaintiff came to know that the defendant got a job as a clerk in the Finance Department under the State of West Bengal and since then he was in the government service and at the time of filing the suit, he was an Inspector of Weights and Measures under the State of West bengal. (h) Since the year 1971, the defendant did not pay a single farthing for the maintenance of the plaintiff and the children. Hence, the suit for divorce on the ground of cruelty. ;