MAHAVIR S.CHAUHAN, J. - (1.) COURT of Shri G.S. Saran, learned Additional District Judge, Ludhiana ('trial Court', for short), vide judgment and decree dated May 16, 2001 (here -in -after referred to as, the impugned judgment and decree), having dismissed Hindu Marriage Act Petition No. 29 of April 15, 1996 and thereby rejecting his plea for dissolution of his marriage with the respondent on the ground of cruelty, the unsuccessful petitioner, Bhupinder Singh, to seek upsetting/ reversal of impugned judgment and decree and to pray acceptance of his prayer for undoing the nuptial relationship, has invoked, by way of this appeal, provisions of Section 28 of the Hindu Marriage Act (No. 25 of 1955) as amended by Marriage Laws (Amendment) Act (No. 68 of 1976) (here -in -after referred to as, the Act).
(2.) APPELLANT approached the learned trial Court by way of a petition under Section 13(1)(ia) of the Act, for dissolution of marriage between the parties to the petition by a decree of divorce on the allegations that he was married to the respondent on December 06, 1987 according to "Anandkarj" ceremonies; after the marriage the parties to the petition lived and cohabited together, as husband and wife, at the house of the appellant's parents, in a joint family, at different times upto January 20/21, 1996; from the wedlock two sons, namely Bikramjit Singh and Davinder Singh, were born on December 04, 1988 and July 07, 1990; the respondent, a hot -headed and short tempered lady, started behaving very boorishly and impudently with the appellant and members of his family and raising dispute on insubstantial and trivial matters; often refused to do the household work and to obey the appellant and his parents; whenever counseled, she would burst into anger and would insult every body present in the house; would allege that she was forcibly married to the appellant and did not want to live with him in his parental dwelling; would proclaim that appellant's and his family's standard of living was very poor and she did not like to live in the poor condition in the joint family; in July 1988, respondent's parents came and took her away from the conjugal home ignoring appellant's request and against his wishes; she returned to the connubial abode in September 1988, on immense persuasion of his elder brother and his wife; even after her return, she continued to misbehave and to act offensively with the appellant and his parents; whenever asked to behave properly she threatened suicide by jumping from the roof of the house and thereby involve appellant's entire family in a murder case; in first week of December 1988, she went to her parental house on the pretext of the delivery of a child, resided there for quite some time and was brought back to the matrimonial house with the efforts of appellant's father and Shri K.K.Thaman; thereafter she conducted herself normally for about one year but again started misbehaving with the appellant; her conduct towards the children was also very neglecting and callous; she proclaimed that she would not live with the appellant unless separate house from the joint family was arranged to which the appellant showed his inability as he was dependent upon his family; she proclaimed that she would leave him for good; on the day of Diwali, 1990, a function was being held in the neighborhood, in the house of appellant's uncle, named Harbhajan Singh, but the respondent, without any cause, got flared up, took out a "Kirpan" and threatened to kill the children and involve everybody in murder case; on March 29, 1991, she left the matrimonial dwelling leaving infant children behind, refused to heed appellant's requests and advice, and took all her ornaments, clothes etc. along; appellant, accompanied by Shri Mohar Singh, husband of his mother's sister, went to respondent's parental home on April 15/16, 1991 and requested her parents that she should return to the matrimonial home but their request was turned down; he then wrote a letter dated August 19, 1991 and sent it under registered post to the respondent but she did not reply; she, however, was brought back to the matrimonial home after great persuasions but left it again on July 28, 1992, without informing the appellant or anybody else in the house and leaving behind the infant children; he reported the episode to the police on the same day and filed a petition under Section 13 of the Act on August 5, 1992 but during the pendency of that petition, with the intervention of Sarvshri Bhupinder Singh, Kirpal Singh and Tara Singh, parties to the petition reached a compromise dated October 21, 1992 whereunder respondent assured that she would not misbehave, would not cause cruelty to the appellant and would not threaten suicide or to harm the appellant and his family; in view of the compromise, the petition was dismissed as withdrawn on October 28, 1992; appellant arranged a separate residence for the parties to the petition and their children; after few days the respondent resumed her violent and reckless behaviour and started acting discourteously, insultingly and insolently and threatened that in case the appellant did not transfer his property in her name and did not give entire earnings from his business to her, he would be physically harmed; he was terrorized to such an extent that it became impossible for him to live with her under one roof; respondent openly declared that she did not like to live with the appellant as his wife; on the night of January 20, 1996, respondent's father, Jasbir Singh, Mohinder Singh and her cousins raised a row with the appellant, abused and insulted him, alleged that he was his father's stooge, told him that unless he got the property transferred from his father they would not allow him to live in peace, and forced to him come out of the house; respondent and her cousins continued to torture him and members of his family by abusing their influence with the local police and forced the appellant and his father and brother to come to the Police Station where they were abused, insulted and illegally detained; and the respondent revived acts of her cruelty prior to compromise dated October 21, 1992. Respondent contested the petition and filed a written reply pleading preliminary objections that the petition was false and frivolous; and the appellant was in the habit of filing repeated false and frivolous divorce petitions to pressurize her and members of her family to squeeze money. Respondent admitted in the reply that she had married the appellant and had resided and cohabited with him at his parents' house but while denying all other allegations of the appellant, including the factum of compromise, she added that her parents had spent huge amount of money on her marriage besides giving jewellery, Rs.45000/ - in cash, 30 beddings, 101 utensils, two boxfulls of goods, one coloured television, one Godrej almirah, and one sofaset et al in dowry; had fulfilled most of appellant's demands; still when she reached the matrimonial home attitude of the appellant and his parents and other relatives was not cordial and they started murmuring that at the time of marriage they were not served properly, the dowry was not sufficient and of their standard and before marriage her parents had agreed to give an amount of Rs.1,00,00/ - but had paid Rs.45000/ - only and had, thereby, lowered their reputation; after some time the appellant started beating her on the abetment of members of his family; her martial life soon became uncongenial; she was subjected to continuous mental and physical torture at the hands of the appellant at the instigation and provocations of members of his family; under compulsion she brought ornaments and cash from her parents from time to time but demand of the appellant soared day by day; attitude of the appellant and his relatives was so cruel that on December 03, 1988 when she was in advanced stage of pregnancy, she was given beatings and it was with great difficulty that she reached her Mausi's House in Ludhiana and was immediately admitted in City Nursing Home there, where she gave birth to a male child on December
(3.) ,1988; after birth of the male child her parents gave an amount of Rs.1,00,00/ - as demanded by the appellant and his parents; still, behaviour of the appellant and his relatives did not change and they continued maltreating her; Panchayats repeatedly convened attempted at reconciliation in vain; she gave birth to second child on July 07, 1990; thereafter appellant's behavior towards her turned crueler and he turned her out of the matrimonial home in three wearing apparels; a Panchayat consisting of Amrik Singh, Kirpal Singh, Tara Singh, Tiara Singh, Harbhajan Singh, and Ranjit Singh was convened and it was agreed in the Panchayat that the appellant and the respondent would live separately; then the interference of appellant's parents increased and they demanded another amount of Rs.1,00,00/ - which she refused; in January 1996 appellant turned her out of the marital home, after giving beatings; she and a Panchayat tried their level best to persuade the appellant to rehabilitate her and not to break the pious conjugal relation; Panchayat members, however, were manhandled and abused; and though the parties to the petition resided in a separate residence but members of appellant's family used to visit that place and to insult, beat, abuse and irritate her on account of small dowry. 4. Appellant filed re -joinder to the written reply and thereby denied all what was said in the written reply and reiterated contents of the petition.;