Hindu Marriage Act, 1955: s. 13(1)(ia) and (ib) – Divorce – Grounds of cruelty and desertion – Marital discord between the parties – Petition for dissolution of marriage by the husband on the ground that the wife treated him with cruelty and deserted him,that there was no co-habitation between the parties, and that the wife had filed multiple false and frivolous criminal cases against him – Trial court passed a decree of divorce holding that the wife had deserted the husband and had meted out cruel behaviour against him – However, the High Court set aside the order – On appeal, held: There are bitter allegations of cruelty and desertion from both the sides, the marital relationship has broken down irretrievably, there is a long separation of 25 years, absence of cohabitation, no child out of the wedlock, with multiple court cases between the parties – Repeated efforts for reconciliation by the Courts has failed – Marital relationship which has only become more bitter and acrimonious over the years, does nothing but inflicts cruelty on both the sides – To keep the facade of this broken marriage alive would be doing injustice to both the parties – Marriage being irretrievably broken down spells cruelty, thus, a ground for dissolution of marriage u/s.13(1)(ia) – Judgement by the High Court set aside and decree of divorce is granted.