New Delhi, Jan 13: A mere 15 day-long matrimonial relationship between a couple cannot lead to the inference that the marriage has broken down irreconcilably, a court here has held while dismissing a navy official's divorce plea.

Refusing to grant divorce to the lieutenant commander, Additional District Judge Atul Kumar Garg said the husband had failed to bring on record any instance of cruelty due to which he was unable to go on with his matrimonial obligations after just 15 days.

"Fifteen days time is not enough for the respondent to adjust with a new husband (as both of them had re-married) and then it is the husband who does not want to live with her while she is willing to reside with him," the judge noted.

Observing that a fortnight was too short to arrive at the conclusion that the marriage had broken down beyond reconciliation, the court referred to the relevant provisions of the Hindu Marriage Act and refrained from dissolving the relationship.

It further considered the wife's pleas that the two had physical relationship during the 15 days after their wedding on September 19, 2002 like any other normal couple and despite her willingness to live with him, she was forcibly separated.

Noting that apart from verbal accusations, the husband had been unable to produce any witness to corroborate his charges that the woman had ill-treated and insulted him in front of his friends, the court threw out his plea.

According to the officer, now posted at Visakhapatnam, he was unable to live with his wife owing to her abusive and non-co-operating behaviour, forcing him to seek a divorce.

The wife, on the other hand, claimed that she performed all her matrimonial duties with love and affection and the man wanted to get rid of her malafidely.