This is my moot problem in my law college please help me

Querist : Anonymous (Querist) 28 February 2023 This query is : Resolved
Rohit Tavade and Akansha Sheikh (previous name) are married since last 9 years. Their marriage is
inter-caste marriage. Initially parents of both the parties opposed the marriage, subsequently they
consented. The said couple is childless.
Akansha had a brilliant academic record and has been the recipient of the prestigious Lalor
Foundation Fellowship of United States of America (USA), which is offered to young scientists for
outstanding performance in the area of research. According to her, at the time of her marriage, she
was in employment with the department of bio-chemistry in the Indian Institute of Medical Sciences
(IIMS) and was also pursuing her Ph.D. she was well-placed and having a good job in IIMS in
Chandigarh, only with a view to accompany her husband who are serving in Amravati, she left her
job.
Akansha conceived for the first time in 2011, within a period of about one month of the marriage,
but on the account of being exposed to harmful radiations as a part of her Ph.D. thesis, she decided
to terminate the pregnancy. Again, in 2013, she conceived second time, however that pregnancy
was required to be terminated on the ground of an acute kidney infection for which she had to
undergo an IVP, which entailed six abdominal X- rays and radiometric urinary reflect test with
radioactive drinking dye.
Akansha had a habit of maintaining a diary containing various entries. Some points of the diary were
suggesting that she was too worried about her future career but not a single mention of her
personal life.
Rohit filed a petition in the Court of Additional District Judge, Amravati under Section 13(1)(i)(a) and
(i)(b) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 for getting divorce from his wife on the grounds of cruelty and
desertion. It was alleged by the husband that his wife was all throughout conscious, mindful and
worried of one thing and that was her career. Akansha is only career minded girl and has no worries
about her personal (marital) life. She had also treated the family members of her husband with
cruelty. She got her pregnancy terminated twice in 2011 as well as in 2013 without the consent or
even knowledge of her husband and falsely stated that there was natural miscarriage at the time of
third pregnancy in 2015.
The family members and her husband got to know all these things in 2015, after termination of her
pregnancy third time. She had neither taken consent of the husband about any of her activity nor of
his family members is the allegation of her husband.
Akansha admitted that she had to go to USA for receiving prestigious award of Lalor Foundation
Fellowship. Rohit was also happy about her progress. Akansha informed to court that during regular
intervals, both of them used to stay together and Rohit had never refused to stay with her at any
stage of their marital life. Therefore, she is not ready and willing to give divorce to Rohit under any
circumstances. Akansha denied the allegations of cruelty and desertion alleged by Rohit and
informed the court that her husband’s consent was taken by the hospital for the termination of
pregnancy. She is ready and willing to continue her married relation with Rohit and is not ready to
give him divorce him.
The Additional District Judge ruled in favour of the wife on the ground that in this case termination
of pregnancy did not amount to cruelty. Now the appeal is pending before the Honourable High
Court of Bombay

Argue the case as per the issues involved
1. Whether the suit is maintainable under the Hindu Marriage Act
2. Whether termination of pregnancy amounts to cruelty as per the relevant provisions under
the law

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Querist : Anonymous (Querist) 28 February 2023
Please help regarding this issue

kavksatyanarayana (Expert) 28 February 2023
Yes, maintainable. Abortion without the knowledge or consent of the husband is a ground for divorce under The Hindu Marriage Act,1954, as it an act of mental cruelty against the husband.