K A PHILIP Vs. SUSAN JACOB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner in O. P. (Divorce) No. 29 of 1991 on the file of the Court of the District Judge, Pathanamthitta, filed this appeal against the order in the said O. P.

(2.) The petitioner, husband of the first respondent filed the petition under S.10 of the Indian Divorce Act for dissolution of marriage. The petitioner married the first respondent on 23.2.1976 in accordance with the religious rites and ceremonies prevailing in the Christian community. After the marriage, they lived together as man and wife at the residence of the petitioner at Adoor till July 1977 when the first respondent left the matrimonial home and started residence at her house at Thiruvananthapuram. Eversince, they are living separately. The carnel copulation between the petitioner and the first respondent was only for one month and thereafter the petitioner became totally incapable of performing sexual intercourse with the first respondent.

(3.) The marriage between the petitioner and the first respondent was negotiated and settled by the 2nd respondent who is none other than the brother inlaw of the petitioner, along with Rev. Fr. C. G. Geevarghese. It was subsequently revealed that the 2nd respondent was having illicit connection with the first respondent and the first respondent was his concubine long prior to their marriage. The marriage was arranged by the second respondent only to perpetuate the illegal connection with the first respondent. After the marriage, the first respondent used to go to Thiruvananthapuram once in a fortnight against the will of the petitioner to facilitate and indulge in sexual intercourse with the 2nd respondent at Thiruvananthapuram. It was a pre planned arrangement between the first respondent and 2nd respondent. Even now, the 2nd respondent is keeping the first respondent as his wife and she is leading an adulterous life. The petitioner had witnessed the illegal relation and committing adultery by the first respondent with the 2nd respondent on 3.2.1991 when he went to the house of the 2nd respondent to see his nephew Renji Chacko. While, the first respondent was residing with the petitioner at Adoor, within a short span of 16 months, she developed illegal connection with respondents 3 to 5 who are all natives of Adoor. The third respondent who is an immediate neighbour made unusual visit to the petitioner's residence while she was alone in the house. He used to intrude into the house of the appellant day and night in his absence and used to indulge in immoral activities. As the petitioner resisted this conduct of the first respondent, disharmony started in the house. Then the petitioner was put to deep sleep after administering soporific poisonous drugs mixing with milk and facilitated full freedom to indulge in adultery with the respondents and others. Thus respondents 3 to 5 continued to be her adulterers till the first respondent left Adoor finally in July 1977. Even now respondents 2 to 5 and certain others visit the first respondent in her house at Thiruvananthapuram to indulge in sexual connections. Thus, she is living in adultery with respondents 2 to 5 and others. Due to the consumption of the soporific drugs, the petitioner became impotent and he became incapable of performing sexual act. Though there was no carnel copulation between the petitioner and the first respondent after one month of their marriage, she became pregnant. To the knowledge of the petitioner, she became pregnant through one of her adulterers and she delivered a child on 7.11.1977 at Medical College Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram.