Ashish Sharma vs Archana Sharma

The petitioner assails the order dated 30.5.2019 whereby the application moved by the petitioner husband under Order 7 Rule 11 CPC was rejected.

Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the jurisdiction did not lie at district Nagour for filing of the divorce petition by the wife as marriage had taken place at Dausa and no cause of action arose at Nagour. Learned counsel submits that it is question of root of the case and it has to be decided at initial stage and, therefore, the application under Order 7 Rule 11 ought to have been allowed.

I have considered the submissions and find from the averments made by the respondent wife in her application moved under Section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, that the applicant wife has sought that she was raped by her father-in-law as well as by her husband's elder brother and she lodged an FIR at Police Station Dausa under Sections 323, 342, 376, 511, 498-A and 354 against them. Faced with the situation, her husband and her husband's relative forced her to enter into a compromise with the condition that a mutual divorce petition would be filed by both the husband and wife. Resultantly she withdrew her criminal complaint and filed a joint application under Section 13-B before the concerned court. However, her husband withdrew from the compromise and did not sign divorce proceedings as the criminal case had been withdrawn and again started threatening. She, therefore, has filed this application for seeking divorce from the place where her father and other relatives live i.e. in village chhatwa Kalan, Tehsil Jayal, District Nagaur. Contents to this aspect have been mentioned in para 5 of her application.

As per provisions of Order 7 Rule 11 it is trite law that the court will only examine the contents of the plaint to see whether the suit is to be ousted on ground of jurisdiction. Thus, from the plaint/application moved under Section 13, it is apparent that jurisdiction lies with the court at Nagour to decide the application under Section 13 of the wife.

This Court is also of the firm view that the husband has moved this application simply to harass his wife, and delay the proceedings.. Taking note of the aspects which have been mentioned in the application filed by his wife, this Court finds that the present revision petition is also an attempt to misuse the process of court and the same is dismissed with cost of Rs. 50,000/- to be paid to the wife by the petitioner. If the petitioner does not deposit the amount and does not pay the same through the court at Nagour within two months from today, his right to defend the case shall stand forfeited.