J SUDHAKARA SHENOY Vs. VRINDA SHENOY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS appeal is preferred by the husband against the decree dismissing his application for dissolution of his marriage under S. 13 (1) (ia) and (iii) of the Hindu Marriage Act in M. C. No. 36 of 1990 on the file of the Prl. Civil Judge and CJM, Bangalore.

(2.) ACCORDING to the appellant the marriage between him and the first respondent has taken place on 25-12-1977 at Cannanore as per the custom of Gowda Saraswatha community. The second respondent is the father of the first respondent and it is claimed that the second respondent suppressed the fact that the first respondent is of unsound mind and suffering from mental disorder. The second respondent is said to have played fraud upon the appellant and has performed the marriage. It is further alleged that even on the date of the marriage, the first respondent-wife after garlanding of the bridegroom and the function was going on, forcibly cut and removed the bridal garland which she was wearing and threw it away. It is further claimed that on the night when the husband and wife were in Mangalore in the house of the appellant, the first respondent abused the appellant that he had married her only to destroy her. The appellant learnt that the first respondent had been undergoing treatment for mental disability. Even prior to the marriage, she was admitted to the hospital at Cannanore and she was treated by a Psychiatrist. The first respondent residing with her parents since more than three years and prior to that also she used to stay with her parents. The further allegation is that whenever she stayed with the appellant, she made his life miserable and also life of the other members of the family by abusing them and quarrelling with them. The wife even tried to commit suicide more than twice. She used to beat their son and she was not treating him properly. There was no motherly love and affection. The first respondent was admitted to KMC Hospital at Manipal and father Muller's Hospital at Kankanady for treatment for mental disorder. Ultimately, it is alleged that the first respondent has been suffering from schizophrenia and she is having increasing imbalance and mental disorder and that is impossible for the appellant to live with her. It was further alleged that she was not even fulfilling her marital obligations,- by refusing sexual intercourse with the appellant and treated him with cruelty. For more than ten years, the appellant could not have sexual intercourse with her. Due to her mental disorder, they cannot live together happily.

(3.) THESE allegations are resisted by the first respondent-wife contending that she was not mentally unsound. Before marriage the appellant and his brother had ascertained her background and health and then only the marriage took place. The wife was asked to go to Mangalore for being seen by the elder brother of the appellant and his wife. Fourteen years after the marriage and living together for such a long time and after giving birth to the child, the husband has come up with this false contention. The question of fraud and suppression of any fact does not arise. Sometimes she had to be treated for quietening her mental tension and the tension brought by the husband. The wife is physically fit and the divorce proceedings have been started after such a long lapse of married life at the instigation of the wife of the elder brother of the appellant. The appellant has set up a separate house; there was no matrimonial bickerings between the appellant and the first respondent. The appellant did not heed to such reasonable request of the first respondent. Thus, the first respondent resisted and dismissal of the petition was sought for.