Telangana High Court
CMA/890/2003 of Chava Lakshmi Kumari , Kandipati Lakshmi Kumari, Vs Chava Venkata Nagarjuna Kumar, on 30 December 2011
COURT OF JUDICATURE OF ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) THURSDAY, THE 4th DAY OF FEBRUARY, 2010 PRESENT: THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE B.PRAKASH RAO AND THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE B.SESHASAYANA REDDY C.M.A.No.890 of 2003 BETWEEN: Chava Lakshmi Kumari @ Kandipati
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE OF ANDHRA PRADESHAT HYDERABAD(Special Original Jurisdiction)
THURSDAY, THE 4[th] DAY OF FEBRUARY, 2010
PRESENT:THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE B.PRAKASH RAOANDTHE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE B.SESHASAYANA REDDY
C.M.A.No.890 of 2003
BETWEEN:
Chava Lakshmi Kumari @ Kandipati Lakshmi Kumari … APPELLANT(S)
AND
Velagani Venkateswara Rao
…RESPONDENT(S)
THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE B. PRAKASH RAOANDTHE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE B.SESHASAYANA REDDY
C.M.A.No.890 of 2003
ORDER:(Per HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE B.SESHASAYANA REDDY)
This civil miscellaneous appeal is directed against the orderdated 08.01.2003 passed in H.M.O.P.No.214 of 2001 on the file of theAdditional Senior Civil Judge, Guntur, whereunder and whereby thelearned Additional Senior Civil Judge dismissed the petition filed bythe wife under Section 13(1)(ib) of the Hindu Marriage Act. 1955(hereinafter to referred to as – ‘the Act’).
Background facts in a nutshell leading in filing of this appealunder Section 28 of the Act are that the appellant and the respondentgot married on 12.05.1994 at Sri Venkateswara Swamy Devasthanam,Vaikuntapuram, Tenali, as per Hindu customs and religious rites. According to the appellant-wife, her parents gave Rs.20,000/- towardsdowry and gifted Ac.1-00 of land towards pasupu-kumkuma apart frompresenting all customary presentations, and house hold articles worthRs.10,000/-. They led happy marital life for a short period. Therespondent-husband is stated to be a short tempered person and isaddicted to all sorts of vices such as drinking alcohol, playing cards,moving with girls of loose morals etc. He is an employee of SangamDairy, Vadlamudi, Guntur. The appellant-wife secured employment asa clerk in J.K.C. College, Guntur, in an unaided post after themarriage. Respondent-husband started harassing the appellant-wifeto set apart her salary to meet his vices. On 08.06.2001, therespondent-husband came to the house of the appellant-wife indrunken state, abused her in filthy language and beat her indiscriminately. The appellant-wife having no other go left thematrimonial home and reached her parental house. She filed the O.P.under Section 13(1)(ib) of the Act for dissolution of marriage on theground of cruelty. The respondent-husband filed counter resisting therelief sought for by the appellant-wife. It is the case of the respondent-husband that the appellant-wife has been spending her salary amountfor the well being of her sister’s children and maintaining the family ofher maternal uncle, who has been examined as P.W.2. The vicesattributed to him have been denied. According to him, the appellant-wife left his house on 08.06.2001 out of her own accord. Theappellant-wife has been residing with her sister Satyavathi atA.T.Agraharam, Guntur, and attending the college where she isemployed.
The trial Court formulated the following issue for trial.
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(1) Whether the petitioner is entitled for divorce as prayed for inthe petition?
On behalf of the appellant-wife, she got herself examined, asP.W.1, and examined her maternal uncle M.Sadasiva Rao as P.W.2. On behalf of the respondent-husband, he got himself examined, asR.W.1, and examined his father Ch.Siva Ramakrishna Prasad asR.W.2.
The trial Court, on considering the evidence brought on recordand on hearing the counsel appearing for parties, came to theconclusion that the appellant-wife failed to make out a valid ground fordissolution of marriage and thereby proceeded to dismiss the petitionby order dated 08.01.2003. Hence, this civil miscellaneous appeal bythe wife.
Despite notice being served on the respondent-husband, he didnot choose to enter appearance either in person or through a counsel.
Heard the learned counsel appearing for the appellant-wife andperused the order impugned in the appeal and the evidence broughton record.
The learned counsel appearing for the appellant-wife submitsthat the evidence of appellant-wife, as P.W.1, has been amplycorroborated by the evidence of P.W.2 and, therefore, the trial Court isnot justified in discarding the testimony of P.W.1 with regard to thecruelty meted out by her in the hands of the respondent-husband. Thelearned counsel also took us to the evidence of P.Ws.1 and 2 toconvince that the appellant-wife has made out a valid ground fordissolution of marriage.
As seen from the record, the appellant-wife, as P.W.1, deposedthat on 08.06.2001, the respondent-husband came to her in a fullydrunken state, abused her and her family members in filthy languageand beat her indiscriminately all over the body and demanded her toget money from her parents. She has specially stated in her evidencethat the respondent-husband beat her repeatedly over hundred timessince the date of her marriage. Her evidence is consistent with regardto ill treatment she meted out in the hands of the respondent-husband. She is an employee working in J.K.C. College, Guntur, as JuniorAssistant. She has no reason to speak falsehood against therespondent, who is none other than her husband. P.W.2 is thematernal uncle of the appellant-wife. He deposed that on 08.06.2001,the appellant-wife came to her village Kopparru in PedanandipaduMandal of Guntur District with her wearing apparels and informed thatthe respondent-husband beat her after having fully drunk. The incidentthat occurred on 08.06.2001 has been established by the appellant-wife. The trial Court, without considering the evidence of P.W.2 withregard to the incident occurred on 08.06.2001 proceeded to record afinding that the appellant-wife failed to make out the ground of cruelty. The trial Court disbelieved the evidence of P.W.1 on the ground that she did not lodge complaint before the police when her husband beather. Mere not lodging a complaint with the police cannot be a groundto discard her testimony if it is otherwise trustworthy. ‘Cruelty’postulates the treatment of the petitioner to such cruelty as to causereasonable apprehension in the mind of the petitioner that it is harmfulor injurious to the petitioner to live with the other spouse. Theappellant-wife, while being examined as P.W.1, stated specificinstances of harassment meted out by her in the hands of therespondent-husband. As seen from the evidence of P.W.1, therespondent-husband is habituated to various vices and resorted tobeat her. If such is the conduct of the respondent-husband, it can bedefinitely said that it constitutes a cruelty. The appellant-wife has beensetting apart his earnings for the well being of her sister’s children andalso the family of her maternal uncle, who has been examined asP.W.2. Mere spending money by the appellant-wife for the well beingof her own relations cannot be an eye sore to the respondent-husband. It is not the case of the respondent-husband that theappellant-wife is spending the property belonging to him for the wellbeing of her relations. On close scrutiny of the evidence brought onrecord, we find that the appellant-wife made out a valid ground forgrant of divorce for dissolution of marriage.
Conclusion
Accordingly, the appeal is allowed setting aside the order dated08.01.2003 passed in H.M.O.P.No.214 of 2001 on the file of theAdditional Senior Civil Judge, Guntur, and, consequently, the O.P. isallowed dissolving the marriage between parties celebrated on12.05.1994. No order as to costs.
______________________
(B. PRAKASH RAO, J)
______________________________
(B.SESHASAYANA REDDY, J)
4[th] February, 2010CVRK