1 CGHC010198382024 2026:CGHC:37474 NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR FA(MAT) No. 199 of 2024 Samundari W/o Shri Rajendra Aged About 55 Years R/o Village Govardhanpur, Tahsil - Pratappur, District - Surajpur, Chhattisgarh. (Defendant) --- Appellant versus Rajendra S/o Late Shri Hari Aged About 55 Years R/o Village Govardhanpur, Tahsil - Pratappur, District - Surajpur, Chhattisgarh. (Plaintiff) --- Respondent For appellant : Mr. Ashok Shukla, Adv. For Respondent : Mr. Sanjeev Varma, Adv. Hon'ble Shri Justice Naresh Kumar Chandravanshi Order On Board 20-8-2026 1. Heard on I.A. No. 3/2024, application under Section 24 of the Hindu Marriage Act. 2. Learned counsel for the appellant seeks permission to withdraw this application with liberty to file an appropriate application for enhancement of maintenance amount before the concerned Family Court, as interim maintenance has been granted to her. 3. Learned counsel for the respondent has no objection to allow above 2 prayer. 4. In view of above submission, I.A. No. 3/2024 is dismissed as withdrawn with liberty to the appellant to take recourse of law available to her. 5. Heard on admission. 6. The appellant has preferred this appeal under Section 28 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, against the judgment and decree dated 1-3-2024 passed by the Additional District Judge, Pratappur, District Surajpur, in Civil Suit No. 6A/2021, whereby the civil suit filed by the respondent/husband under Section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act has been allowed and a decree of divorce has been granted in favour of the respondent/husband. 7. Learned counsel for the appellant would submit that the marriage of the appellant was solemnized with the respondent in the year 1984, but, on account of physical and mental harassment meted out to her by the respondent, she was compelled to live separately. Subsequently, a settlement was arrived at between the parties, pursuant to which they again started residing together. Despite the same, a decree of divorce has been granted by the learned Additional District Judge on the ground of desertion, whereas no desertion on the part of the appellant has been proved by the respondent. Hence, the appeal may be admitted for hearing. 3 8. Per contra, learned counsel for the respondent/husband supports the impugned judgment passed by the learned Additional District Judge, Pratappur. 9. Admittedly, the marriage between the parties was solemnized in the year 1984. However, the appellant herself has admitted in her deposition that, after two years of their marriage, she started residing separately. Though she has also stated that, after filing a maintenance application, they again resumed cohabitation, it is evident from the record that the maintenance application filed by the appellant was disposed of vide order dated 28-7-2005 by the Judicial Magistrate First Class, Pratappur, Sarguja. This indicates that, even after the settlement arrived at between the parties, they again started living separately, and consequently, an order of maintenance was passed in favour of the appellant in the year 2005. Thus, from a perusal of the deposition available on record, it appears that the appellant and the respondent lived together only for a few years after their marriage, and thereafter, the appellant left the company of her husband in or around the year 2000. In the meantime, the respondent/husband contracted a second marriage in the year 2000, from which six children were born to him. The evidence available on record, therefore, clearly establishes that the appellant has been living separately from the respondent for more than two decades. Such prolonged separation of the appellant/wife from the respondent/husband, 4 constitutes desertion and provides a valid ground for granting a decree of divorce in favour of the respondent/husband. 10. In view of the foregoing, this Court is not inclined to admit the instant appeal for hearing. Accordingly, the appeal deserves to be, and is hereby, dismissed at the motion stage. 11. Pending interlocutory application(s), if any, stands disposed of. Sd/- (Naresh Kumar Chandravanshi) Judge pathak AVANISH KUMAR PATHAK Digitally signed by AVANISH KUMAR PATHAK Date: 2026.08.22 13:39:26 +0530