( 1 ) THIS is an appeal by the wife Anima Roy, whose marriage with the respondent Probodb Mohan Roy, a learned Additional District Judge, Alipore, has declared, by his judgment and decree dated February 28, 1966, to be null and void.

( 2 ) THE appellant Anima and the res' pondent Probodh, Hindus both, were married under the Hindu rites on July 3 1960, when Anima was 25 and Probodh 37.

( 3 ) THE Hindu Marriage Act, 25 of 1955, came into force on May 18, 1955.

( 4 ) SECTION 12, Sub-section (1), Clause (b), of the Act makes any marriage, whether solemnized before or after May 18, 1955, voidable, and provides for its annulment, by a decree of nullity, if it contravenes Section 5, Clause (ii), thereof. Section 5, Clause (ii), in turn, provides that a marriage may be solemnized between any two Hindus if neither party is an idiot or a lunatic at the time of the marriage.

( 5 ) THE husband respondent raises a matrimonial cause in the Court of the District Judge, Alipore, for annulling, by a decree of nullity, his marriage with the appellant, Sm. Anima Roy, on the ground that she was a lunatic on July 3, 1960, the date of the marriage. The date when he does so is