The High Court upheld a decree of divorce granted by the family court under Section 13(i-a) and (i-b) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, in favour of the husband.

The husband filed for a decree of divorce against his wife on the grounds, inter alia, that she was living separately along with their son, without any sufficient cause of justification, and she refused to return. Instances of cruelty were also alleged against the wife. At the conclusion of the trial, the family court granted divorce to the husband on the grounds of cruelty and desertion.

The High Court placed reliance on the Supreme Court decision in Savitri Pandey v. Prem Chandra Pandey, (2002) 2 SCC 73. It was noted that the wife made an admission that there were no physical relations between the parties for last more than 2 years and they were living separately. Moreover, she did not reply to the notices sent by the husband and clearly did not intend to stay with him. In such circumstances, the order passed by the family court was upheld and the present appeal was dismissed.