SHANTABAI ALIAS GOURABAI Vs. TARACHAND

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is an appeal from the judgment and decree declaring the marriage between tarachand and Smt. Shantibai a nullity on the ground of her impotency under section 12 (1) (a) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.

(2.) THE parties were married at Indore on 28th November 1960. The husband belongs to Khandwa. where she lived with him till June 1962. During that period, she sometimes visited her parents at Indore. The husband alleged in the petition that he made several attempts to consummate the marriage but she did not allow him to do so and at every such attempt she abused him and showed repugnance to the act by withdrawing herself from his bed and even from the room. The wife resisted the petition and, denying her own incapacity for copulation, contended that in fact it was he who showed strong abhorrence, so that a sexual union could not be possible in spite of her repealed attempts.

(3.) ADMITTEDLY, there has been no consummation of the marriage. The parties had no sexual connection on a single occasion, although they lived in the same house for several months. The peculiarity of this case is that each spouse charges the other with impotency. In the trial Court both the parties were medically examined. According to Dr. Narbadabai Joshi (P. W. 4) and Dr. (Miss) Pushpa Gupta (P. W. 5), the private parts of the appellant are normal and the opening of the uterus is also healthy, although the uterus is somewhat of a smaller size than the normal one. Her secondary sex characters are normally developed. She is fit for copulation. Dr. Godbole (P. W. 7), who examined the husband, has found that his sexual organs and the secondary sexual characters are well developed and he is capable of performing sexual intercourse