- (1.) DISSOLUTION of marriage between the parties on the ground of cruelty as well as desertion under Section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 (for short 'the Act') vide judgment and decree dated 31.7.2012 passed by the District Judge, Fatehgarh Sahib in favour of respondent -wife Kanchan @ Ravi (hereinafter referred to as 'the wife') is under challenge by the appellant -husband Shiv Kumar (hereinafter referred to as 'the husband') in this appeal.
(2.) THE wife had claimed that the husband was not only a "man of bad habits and was addicted to liquor and intoxicants and also indulged in gambling" but was also cruel to her, as he was maltreating, humiliating and beating her quite often. It was also averred that he was unmindful of requirements of the daughter born out of the wedlock and had polluted the family atmosphere by consistent demands of dowry in the shape of a motorcycle and cash amount of Rs.20,000/ -. Inability to fulfill such demands had resulted in repeated instances of her beating up at his hands and the matter had remained unresolved despite convening of community Panchayat to settle the issue; the husband had remained adamant on his demands. It was claimed by the wife that she had been given severe beatings on 29.5.2005 by the husband as also by other members of his family but he had managed to escape to her parental house, where right from that time, she was residing with her daughter at the mercy of her mother.
(3.) GIVING account of the developments which took place after her arrival in the house of her parents on 29.5.2005, she has claimed as under: (i) A written compromise was arrived at between the parties on 30.5.2005 wherein the respondent had admitted his faults; (ii) Subsequently, with intervention of a community Panchayat, a compromise was effected on 22.9.2006 in consequence of which a petition under Section 13 -B of the Act was filed at Amloh for dissolution of marriage of the parties. Their statements were recorded on 23.9.2006. The husband later had withdrawn his consent to dissolve the marriage between the parties; (iii) The husband had filed a petition under Section 9 of the Act for restitution of conjugal rights at Samrala, wherein he was ordered to pay maintenance to the wife @ Rs.2000/ - per month which the husband did not pay. Rather, not even a penny was paid and thus ultimately the petition was dismissed in default on 23.3.2011; and, (iv) A petition under Section 125 Cr.PC filed by the wife for grant of maintenance allowance for her minor child was filed wherein the husband was ordered to pay Rs.1,500/ - per month for the child, but the said order of the court was also not honoured by the husband as he did not pay even a penny to the child. Though the husband had denied the allegations of cruelty as also of desertion and has also refuted the allegations that there were demands of dowry, it was, interalia, pleaded by the husband that, in fact, the wife had been letting loose cruelty on him as she had left the matrimonial home without any reasonable cause or excuse as also without his consent and had refused to join the matrimonial home despite several requests made in this behalf. Controverting all the allegations put forth by the wife, prayer for dismissal of the petition was made.;