Prashant Kumar Mishra, J.

1. The core issue involved in this First Appeal, preferred by the appellant/husband (for brevity 'husband') challenging dismissal of his suit for annulment of marriage, is whether a decree for annulment of marriage under Section 12(1)(c) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act') can be allowed on the ground that at the time of and even before marriage the respondent/wife (for brevity 'the wife') was suffering from Schizophrenia, which was concealed from the husband while obtaining his consent for marriage.

2. The parties are Hindus. They were married on 12.12.2009. The suit for annulment of marriage was preferred on 13.09.2010 on the pleading that soon after the marriage the wife was talking strangely, inappropriately and irrelevantly and was always expressing fear of her or husband's death. In course of interaction with wife, the husband became aware that she is suffering from mental disorder and had obtained treatment from some Neurologist of Nagpur. On further enquiry, he found that the wife is suffering from Schizophrenia and her ailment is incurable and the disease is congenital. During her stay with the husband, s