[Divorce Law] Parties Staying Separately For Their Jobs Does Not Prove Desertion: Allahabad High Court

Recently, the Allahabad High Court has held that parties staying separately for jobs does not prove desertion.

The parties got married in 1999 and had a child in 2000. The husband was posted in Jhansi, whereas the wife was posted in Auraiya. Since the parties were living separately, the appellant-husband filed a suit for restitution of conjugal rights which was decreed ex-parte in 2004. Later when the ex-parte order was recalled at the instance of the respondent-wife in 2006. The appellant withdrew the proceedings and instituted divorce proceedings in 2007 alleging desertion and cruelty.

The Court observed that the respondent-wife had led evidence regarding the husband visiting her when she was ill in June 2003 and going to her school for applying for medical leave thereafter. The Court held that the allegation that the respondent had deserted the appellant in June 2003 was rightly disbelieved by the Family Court.

In light of the facts that the respondent was working 2kms away from the appellant's ancestral home and the fact that her applying for a job in Auraiya was within the knowledge of the appellant, the division bench of Justice Saumitra Dayal Singh and Justice Donadi Ramesh held

“Merely because the parties may have remained separated for reason of their separate jobs with one working at Jhansi and the other at Auraiya, the fact occurrence of desertion may never be sustained on the strength of such vocational/employment compulsion faced by the parties.”

Though allegations of cruelty were made against the respondent-wife, the Court observed that the respondent had led evidence regarding cruelty by the appellant, when the appellant had failed to prove his case.

Accordingly, the Court upheld the dismissal of divorce proceedings instituted by the appellant-husband.

Case Title: Arvind Singh Sengar v. Smt. Prabha Singh [FIRST APPEAL No. - 141 of 2014]

Click Here To Read/Download Order