SANJEETA DAS Vs. TAPAN KUMAR MOHANTY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave granted.

(2.) The order of a division bench of the Orissa High Court that is before us in this appeal, though passed in a judicial proceeding, appears to us to be completely alien to the law. The relevant facts to see the impugned order in perspective may be stated thus.

(3.) The respondent and the appellant were married in accordance with the Hindu religious rites. About three years after the marriage, he filed a petition (Civil Proceeding No. 136 of 1997) before the Family Court, Rourkela for dissolution of his marriage with the appellant on grounds of cruelty and desertion (clauses (ia) and (ib) of Section 13(1) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955). The appellant strongly resisted the grounds taken by the respondent for dissolution of their marriage and took the plea that in reality she had been deserted and subjected to cruelty by the respondent. For the purpose of the present appeal, there is no need for us to go into the details of the allegations made by the respondent in his petition or the counter-allegations made against him in the written statement filed by the appellant. Suffice it to note that on the basis of the evidences adduced before it, the Family Court in its judgment dated October 29, 2005 arrived at findings against the respondent on both the issues of desertion and cruelty. Invoking, however, the provision of Section 23A of the Act, it directed the appellant to resume cohabitation with her husband, the respondent, within 3 months from the date of the judgment. The operative order of the Family Court is as follows: