AIR 1978 DELHI 240 ::(1978) 10 Lawyer 191 ::ILR (1978) 1 Delhi 495

Delhi High Court

Hon'ble Judge(s): V. S. Deshpande, H. L. Anand , JJ

Hindu Marriage Act (25 of 1955) , S.10 Expln.— Desertion - Meaning of - Essential conditions to constitute matrimonial offence of desertion. Section 10 of the Act entitles the parties to the marriage to a decree for judicial separation, before its amendment, and to a decree of divorce, after the recent amendment, on the ground that either party to the marriage- "(a) has deserted the petitioner for a continuous period of not less than two years immediately preceding the presentation of the petition." In its essence, desertion means the intentional permanent forsaking and abandonment of one spouse by the other without that other's consent and without reasonable cause. It is a total repudiation of the obligations of marriage. Desertion is, however, not the withdrawal from place, but from a state of things for what the law seeks to enforce is the recognition and discharge of the common obligations of the married state. Desertion, thus, is the separation of one spouse from the other with an intention on the part of the deserting spouse of bringing the cohabitation permanently to an end without reasonable cause and without the consent of the other spouse, but the physical act of departure by one spouse does not necessarily make that spouse the deserting party. Desertion, therefore, requires two elements on the part of the deserting sp....