ORDER :

1. The petitioner is the wife who has presented this petition assailing the order passed by the Family Court, Dharwad (for short, ‘the Family Court), by which, her husband’s request to summon the Doctor to produce documents relating to her alleged abortion has been granted.

2. A proceeding for dissolving the marriage on the ground that the wife had treated the husband with cruelty and that she had deserted him for a continuous period of two years was initiated by the husband. In this petition, an allegation was indeed made about the adulterous life that his wife was leading, though divorce on the ground that the wife had a voluntary sexual intercourse with another person was not raised.

3. In addition to the divorce proceedings, a proceeding for maintenance under Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 had also been initiated by the wife.

4. In the proceedings for divorce, an application was filed to issue a direction to one Dr.Smita of Dr.Ramanagouda Hospital, Malapur Cross, Dharwad to produce the entire case details (Including declaration letter, undertaking letter, daily summary report sheet, doctor report, scan copy and other all relating copies) and also to give evidence on the said documents in respect of wife who was stated to have been treated under Patient I.D.No.30386.

5. In the affidavit in support of the said application, it was stated that in the maintenance proceedings, an application had been filed and the same was allowed and a direction had been issued to the Dr.Ramangouda Hospital Authority to submit the medical records and to give evidence. It was stated that since the present proceeding was filed seeking for dissolution of marriage by a decree of divorce and that was the main case, the said records needed to be summoned.

6. It was stated that since the husband had taken the specific contention that the wife was having an illicit relationship and there was clear evidence that she became pregnant, the said documents were necessary to establish the contention.

7. It was stated that the wife had infact undergone an abortion on 21.11.2020 under Patient I.D.No.30386 and the same had been suppressed. It was stated that though the doctor had been summoned in the maintenance proceedings, only some of the documents were produced and not all of them were produced and since the petition for dissolution of marriage was the main case, these documents needed to be produced in these proceedings.

8. This application was stoutly opposed by the wife. She stated that if the records were summoned, the confidentiality that was required to be maintained by the hospital would be violated. It was also stated that the documents sought to be produced, even if true, would not establish or prove the adulterous life being led by her.

9. The Trial Court, after hearing, has proceeded to allow the application mainly on the ground that the documents maintained by the Doctor of a Private Hospital were private documents. The Court reasoned that the said private documents were related to one of the parties and since the husband, by virtue of his legal relationship with his wife, was entitled to obtain the records concerning his wife. The Family Court took the view that there was no question of Hospital Authorities maintaining secrecy in respect of medical records of the wife vis-à-vis the husband. The Family Court also observed that the proposed documents were very much necessary since it related to the wife and it, therefore, allowed the said application.

10. It is this order of summoning the medical records which is the subject matter of this writ petition.

11. The learned counsel for the petitioner-wife contended that the medical records of a person are absolutely private to the person concerned and the same cannot be summoned by any person including the husband. He submitted that the husband by virtue of a legal relationship with his wife does not possess a right, either in law or in equity, to know or procure the medical r