Short Note : 1. On the date of hearing of this appeal, learned counsel for the husband made an application under section 39(2) of the Hindu Marriage Laws (Amendment) Act, 1976. By this application the husband wants to have his petition for judicial separation converted into a petition for divorce under section 13. He wants to make a new allegation of cruelty. Desertion has now become a ground for divorce. But as earlier discussed it cannot be held that the wife has, deserted the husband. No relief, either of judicial separation or of divorce, can be granted to the husband on the ground of desertion. As regards the ground of cruelty which the husband wants to add by way of amendment, reliance is solely placed on certain averments in the written statement of the wife. The averments in paragraph 4 of the written statement are that the wife has not deserted and she is and has always teen willing to live with the husband but that the husband himself wants to get rid of the wife because it appears that the husband has come under the influence of the free and unrestrained habits of the western society and has lost the balance of mind suited to an Indian and wants to lead an unrestrained life in which an Indian wife cannot fit herself and, therefore has filed the petition with false allegations. In the opinion of this Court, the averments in paragraph 4, which are made in answer to the false allegation of desertion made by the husband in his petition, cannot by any imagination amount to cruelty within the meaning of clause (i) (a) of section 13(1) as amended. Under section 10(1)(b) of the Act as it stood before its amendment in 1976, cruelty was a ground for judicial separation and the petitioner had to prove that the husband treated the petitioner with such cruelty as to cause a reasonable apprehension in the mind of the petitioner that it will be harmful or injurious to live with the other party. Under section 13(1)(i)(a) as it now stands, the petitioner can obtain a decree for divorce or judicial separation if be can prove that the other party bas after the solemnisation of the marriage treated the petitioner with cruelty. Under section 13(1)(i)(a) as it now stands, the petitioner can obtain a decree for divorce or judicial separation if be can prove that the other party bas after the solemnisation of the marriage treated the petitioner with cruelty. It may be said that it is now not necessary to prove cruelty of such a magnitude from which the petitioner has a reasonable apprehension that it will be harmful or injurious for him to live with the other party and that it may be sufficient for him to prove cruelty in general for obtaining the relief. Yet, in the opinion of this Court, the conduct complained of must be serious i.e. of such a nature as to make cohabitation impossible or unreasonable. 2. The allegation to which this Court has referred earlier made by the wife in her written statement were made in answer to the false plea of desertion set up by the husband and cannot be taken seriously and cannot fall within the meaning of cruelty under section 13(1)(i)(a). Assuming, therefore, that under section 39(2) of the Marriage Laws (Amendment) Act, 1976, pleadings can be allowed to he amended in a pending appeal, this Court does not think that any useful purpose would be served by allowing the application for amendment of the petition. Appeal dismissed.