Fraudulent misrepresentation or concealment does not affect the validity of a marriage to which the parties freely consent with knowledge of its nature.

JUDGMENT :

N.B. Suryawanshi, J.

1. This appeal filed under Section 19 of the Family Courts Act, 1984 by the appellant-husband takes exception to the judgment of the learned Family Court No.4, Nagpur in Petition No. A-732/2010, by which the petition filed by him for judicial separation and in the alternative for a decree of divorce on the ground of cruelty and desertion, was dismissed.

2. Facts, in brief, leading to this appeal are as follows :

The husband approached the Family Court by filing Petition No. A-732/2010 under Sections 10, 13 (1) (i-a) & (i-b) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 seeking judicial separation or in the alternative decree of divorce on the ground of cruelty and desertion contending therein that, the marriage between the husband and the wife was solemnized at Nagpur on 8.5.2007. Out of the wedlock, daughter Purva was born. According to the husband, as per his horoscope, he was Mangalik, therefore, a search was initiated for a girl who was having Mangalik horoscope. As per the Hindu belief, a person having Mangalik Yog has to marry with a person having Mangalik Yog so as to avoid misfortune. It was contended that in the bio-data of the wife given to them, her birth date was mentioned as 26.9.1993 and her qualifications were given as B.A. final. Her horoscope depicted Mangalik Yog. After the marriage, the wife started residing in the joint family of the husband. She always used to remain silent and avoided conversation with him and the family members. She used to finish her routine work hurriedly and thereafter used to stay alone in the bedroom. She was talking to her maternal family hours together in the bedroom. She used to answer any query by saying Yes or No. She was avoiding to give her educational certificates on the pretext that they were lost. It was further averred that on 18.5.2009, the wife’s father gave her leaving certificate and other documents pertaining to her educational qualification. The husband was shocked to know that the actual date of birth of the wife was 27.9.1979 and therefore she was Non-Mangalik. She had failed in BA-II. On coming to know these facts, the husband became nervous. The wife left matrimonial house in the midnight of 19-20.06.2009 without informing anyone. During her search, she was found with her brother and brother-in-law, who were taking her to her maternal home. Though the husband requested her to return to the matrimonial house, she refused and reported the matter to Wadi Police Station. On the same day, the husband along with his family members went to bring the wife back, but her parents refused to send her and also threatened to involve them in a false case. According to the husband, the wife lodged false complaint on that day. Whenever, the husband tried to bring her back, threats were given to involve him in false cases. The husband further averred that the wife used to give false age to the Doctor so as to suppress her foul play. The wife and her parents have cheated him and his family members by playing fraud at the time of settlement of marriage. There was no communication from the wife and her parents since she went her maternal home on 20.6.2009. The husband and his family members made various efforts and tried to give understanding to the wife to come back but she did not pay any heed to the requests of the husband. The husband also from time to time tried to contact the wife on mobile phone and tried to convince her to come back, but the wife did not respond to his request. These acts of the wife caused mental and physical harassment to the husband which according to him amounts to cruelty. He therefore contended that the wife has deserted him with effect from 20.06.2009 on account of false complaint lodged by the wife and the husband from time to time was called at Tejaswani Family Counseling Centre at Nagpur, where he was lastly informed that the matter was not likely to be settled between them. On 22.6.2010 the husband was called at Police Station, Wadi