Ravinder Kaur vs Manjit Singh (Dead) Thr. Lrs.

2. The respondent herein instituted the proceedings in H.M.A. File No.133 of 16.12.1995 through the petition filed under Section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act seeking dissolution of the marriage which was solemnized between the appellant and respondent during December, 1970 as per the Sikh rites. As on the date of filing the petition the parties had spent 25 years of married life and had be gotten two sons and a daughter from the wedlock, who were also grown up. At that stage the petition was filed by the respondent­husband seeking dissolution of the marriage alleging mental cruelty inflicted upon him C.A.No.2021/2010 Page 2 of 16 by the appellant herein. The parties herein though had resided in Ludhiana till 1988, had shifted to Bathinda thereafter. When this was the position, since the respondent was serving in the Armed Forces, he was posted at Nagaland in the year 1989 and was thereafter posted at Manipur till 1992. From the pleading as put forth before the District Court in the petition, the trigger for the dispute between the parties arose at the point when the appellant and the children had gone over to stay with the respondent at Manipur. According to the respondent herein he was suffering from gastric and related problems and due to his illness, a Punjabi family of Capt. Inderjit Singh looked after the petitioner. In that circumstance due to the affinity of the family the said Capt. Inderjit Singh is said to have sent his wife and children along with the respondent to Bathinda and they remained there while the respondent had taken treatment. Subsequent thereto all of them including the appellant and the children had also gone back to Manipur. Though the families were known to each other in that manner, according to the respondent the C.A.No.2021/2010 Page 3 of 16 appellant herein started levelling baseless allegations against the respondent herein and his father. The wife of Capt. Inderjit Singh had conveyed this aspect to Capt. Inderjit Singh who thereafter told the respondent. The said incident is stated to have been raised by the respondent herein in the presence of the appellant to clarify the situation, but the appellant herein started shouting at the respondent and also alleged that the respondent herein had illegitimate relationship with the wife of Capt. Inderjit Singh.

3. The further details which led to the misunderstanding between the appellant and the respondent is adverted to in the petition filed before the court below. The respondent was thereafter posted at Amritsar and according to the respondent even at that point whenever the respondent visited Bathinda where the appellant and two sons were staying, the appellant again raised the said issue and made false allegations and also had sent the sons and a friend to keep a watch over the activities of the respondent. Certain other C.A.No.2021/2010 Page 4 of 16 incidents which had taken place in Amritsar are referred to in the petition, which need not be elaborated herein. Apart from the same, the respondent has contended that the appellant had intentionally lodged a false report against the respondent to the S.P.(Operations) Bathinda due to which a case under Section 107/151 of Cr.PC. was registered and the father of the respondent as also the respondent were arrested and the proceedings were held. In addition, the appellant herein is stated to have filed a suit against the respondent seeking declaration and permanent injunction with regard to the House No.22, Kamla Nehru Colony, Bathinda wherein she had alleged that the respondent had defrauded her. In that view the respondent herein had contended in the petition that the said acts of the appellant had amounted to mental cruelty and therefore had sought for dissolution of the marriage.

4. The appellant herein who was the respondent had filed detailed objections disputing the averments put forth by the respondent herein in his petition. Insofar as C.A.No.2021/2010 Page 5 of 16 the incident relating to House No.22, Kamla Nehru Colony, Bathinda it was contended that the plot was allotted to the appellant in 1987 and the construction was put up after obtaining money from the father of the appellant, after which they were residing along with their two sons. The appellant has further referred to the nature of relationship the respondent herein was maintaining with Mrs. Nirmaljit Kaur wife of Capt. Inderjit Singh, regarding which she had raised objections and despite the same they were living in the same room of the house belonging to the appellant. Certain incidents in that regard are referred to in her objection statement so as to justify her action. Insofar as the action initiated by the appellant by lodging a complaint to the police, it is contended that in July, 1995 the respondent along with the relations came to the house of the appellant, began to attack her, removed the articles from the house and was forcing her to vacate the house. It is in that view she had approached the police authorities pursuant to which the action was taken. In that light it was contended by the appellant that the act C.A.No.2021/2010 Page 6 of 16 of the respondent herein in fact would amount to inflicting cruelty on the appellant herein and not as alleged by the respondent.

12. Accordingly, the judgment dated 23.08.2006 passed in F.A.O. No.101­M/1999 is set aside and the judgment dated 08.04.1999 passed in H.M.A. File No.133 of 16.12.1995 by the Additional District Judge, Bathinda C.A.No.2021/2010 Page 15 of 16 is restored. The instant appeal is allowed with no order as to costs. All pending applications also stand disposed of.