( 1 ) THIS is an appeal by the wife Sm. Purabi Banerjee whose petition dated August 14, 1963, for annulling, by a decree of nullity, her marriage on April 26, 1963, with the respondent Basudeb Mukherjee, on the ground that her consent to the marriage was obtained by coercion and fraud, just the ground under Section 25, Clause (iii), of the Special Marriage Act, 43 of 1954, fails before the learned Chief Judge, City Civil Court, Calcutta.

( 2 ) ON April 26, 1963, when Purabi and Basudeb were married, Purabi was 23 or thereabouts and Basudeb 28 or thereabouts.

( 3 ) ON August 1, 1962, Basudeb started coaching Purabi -- then a B. A. student of Scottish Church College, Calcutta, and residing under the care of her uncles and aunts in their joint family residence at 235, Barrackpore Trunk Road, Calcutta 36. Basudeb was engaged so, on the recommendation of Purabi's cousin -- one Asim Ganguli alias Nantu whose colleague in office Basudeb was, Basudeb's remuneration was no more than Rs. 36 a month for lessons of 2 hours a day but for 3 days a week, as the averment in the third paragraph of Purabi's petition is, or Rs. 35 a month for lessons of one hour a day for 3 days in a week, as is Basudeb's evidence. It does not matter which. What matters is that the parties -- Basudeb and Purabi -- got to know one another so, and that too as the teacher and the taught.

( 4 ) THE allegations Purabi makes, with a view to having a decree of nullity, she prays the Court for, are rested on fraud and coercion. Fraud, because before his marriage with her, Basudeb paints himself to be what he is really not: son of a quondam Deputy Chief Accounts Officer, South Eastern Railway, owner of vast properties spread over Calcutta, Bhowanipur and Howrah, going to England early in 1963 for higher studies, the sure prospect of being appointed a junior officer at Durgapore with a lucrative salary and a free house etc. etc. , no less because Purabi was made to sign certain papers on April 26, 1963, at the office of the marriage registrar on the 'sop' that that would pave the way for her parents' approval; not that that was the form of marriage gone through under the Special Marriage Act, 1954. And coercion, because in or about February 1963, some six months after Basudeb had started coaching her, he gave Purabi to understand that marry him she must; else he would put an end to his life and hers too.

( 5 ) BASUDEB, in his written statement, denies such statements Purabi attributes to him, and submits: Purabi knew well enough what he was like and what his family was like. In full knowledge thereof, she married him of her own accord, with fraud or coercion nowhere near. Indeed, it was a case of mutual attraction and love culminating in a lawful marriage.

( 6 ) AT the trial, Purabi examines herself and her father, Pulak Chandra Banerjee, Branch Manager of the United Bank of India at Jorhat, Assam; whereas Basudeb examines himself and two friends of his: Biswanath Mukherjee and Anup Dutta, witnesses to the marriage on April 26, 1963. This is all the oral evidence led at and during the trial.

( 7 ) THE documentary evidence consists mostly of letters written by Purabi to Basudeb, as also letters to and fro between Pulak Banerjee on one hand and Basudeb and his people on the other. Exhibit 'f' is the certificate of marriage dated April 26, 1963, issued under Section 13 of the Special Marriage Act, 1954.

( 8 ) THE learned trial Judge disbelieves Purabi, believes Basudeb, whom he refers to as "a bright young man" and by whose frank and straightforward evidence he is "very much impressed", and finds as a fact that Purabi "went through the formalities of the marriage knowing fully well what she was doing". Naturally, therefore, he dismisses Purabi's petition for annulment of the marriage, treating such a petition as a suit under the rules of the Court. Hence this appeal by her.

( 9 ) MR. Chittatosh Mookerjee, appearing for the appellant Purabi, con