As per case facts, the Petitioner/husband filed an appeal against the Family Court's judgment rejecting his divorce application based on cruelty and desertion. The Respondent/wife had left the matrimonial home ... shortly after marriage, refusing to live with his parents, and subsequently filed a criminal complaint against him and his family for dowry demand and 'tonhi pratadna'. This criminal trial lasted seven years, but the Petitioner and his family were eventually acquitted. The Petitioner sought divorce, arguing that the false criminal case constituted mental cruelty and her prolonged absence without valid reason amounted to desertion. The question arose whether the Family Court was justified in rejecting the divorce petition, given the Petitioner's acquittal in the criminal case, and if the false allegations and prolonged separation established grounds for cruelty and desertion. Finally, the Court ruled that the Respondent's act of filing a false criminal complaint, which led to the Petitioner and his family undergoing a seven-year trial and subsequent acquittal, undoubtedly amounted to mental cruelty. Furthermore, the prolonged separation of seven years, coupled with the wife's unjustified withdrawal from the matrimonial home, established the ground of desertion. Consequently, the appeal was allowed, and the marriage was dissolved by a decree of divorce on both grounds.