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“25. In our opinion, we can give a wider meaning to the word ‘absence” than mere ‘physical absence”. One word https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis can have several meanings, just as several words can have one meaning (synonyms). It all depends on the context in which it has been used. For example, the word ‘desertion’ appearing in Section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act implies not only factum of separation, but also “animus deserendi”, vide Lachman v. Meena, AIR 1964 SC 40. There can be constructive desertion. The husband andwife may be living together under the same roof, but the husband may have legally deserted her (wife) by his conduct. Similarly the word ‘absence’ is a word of wide connotation, and is not necessarily limited to ‘physical absence’. The indifferent or obstructionist attitude of a person or avoidance can, in our opinion, amount to absence in some situations.