Man denied divorce despite 2 decades of separation
New Delhi: A man whose wife left him for her maternal home within a couple of years after marriage over 25 years ago has failed to secure divorce from her on grounds of cruelty and desertion, with the Delhi High Court noting that he made no attempt to bring her back.
Upholding the trial court’s order rejecting the divorce plea of Amar Lala Arora, Justice Kailash Gambhir concurred with the lower court's findings about the petitioner's conduct towards his wife.
"The appellant (Arora) has also not proved that there was no consent on his part and his conduct was without blemish so as to compel the respondent wife to leave the matrimonial home," the court said while rejecting the man’s argument that his wife had deserted him just few years after their marriage in February 1987.
"The learned trial court had observed that the petitioner lacked the courage to bring back the respondent wife to the matrimonial home due to the fear of his mother and rightly so as the minimum which can be expected of the husband and the family members of the husband is to give due respect to the wife who enters in a new atmosphere in her matrimonial home," said Justice Gambhir while censuring the man's conduct.
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"It cannot be forgotten that a girl leaves behind her parents, home, hearth, loved ones, friends and memories to come to a new house with new people and atmosphere to begin a different phase of life with her better half," he added.
While rejecting Arora's plea for divorce, the judge said, "There may be difference in life styles, values and educational and social background of the new house and it is the solemn duty of the in-laws to give a friendly, amiable, affable and harmonious environment to give the daughter-in-law time and space to be able to adjust and become a part of her new family."
"The girl leaving the cocoon of her parental house should be welcomed with open arms instead of putting up a hostile front and treating her like an outsider," the judge said.
Arora had been married to Shashi Bala on February 13, 1987 and a year later the couple was blessed with a daughter but their marriage failed to last long as the wife left her matrimonial home, alleging that that her husband treated her rudely under the influence of his family members.
Arora contended that he along with his parents had gone to her parental house to bring her back but she had refused to come back to the matrimonial house with even her parents supporting her decision.
https://zeenews.india.com/news/delhi/man-denied-divorce-despite-2-decades-of-separation_725378.html