The case establishes that the consent for marriage can be annulled if obtained by fraud as to any material fact concerning the respondent, as provided under Section 12(1)(c) of the Hindu Marriage Act.

K. Sreedharan, J.

1. These proceedings are between same parties. They are concerning the marriage between them. So, I consider it advantageous to dispose of them by this common judgment.

2. I will first take up S.A. No. 498/1987. This second appeal arises out of a proceeding under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, hereinafter referred to as 'the Act', for declaration of the marriage between the parties as nullity under Section 12(1)(c) of the Act. Trial Court dismissed that application filed by the husband. On his appeal learned District Judge passed a decree annulling the marriage. That decree is under challenge. (I am referring to the parties as they are arrayed before the Trial Court in the proceedings under the Act).

3. Material averments made by husband in the petition filed before Trial Court are as follows : Petitioner and respondent are Hindus. Their marriage was solemnised on 13-12-81 in accordance with the religious rites of the community to which they belong. After marriage they resided at his house till they left for Ranchi, his place of employment. During the stay at the petitioner's house and on arrival at Ranchi respondent used to take certain pills regularly. They were stated to be sleeping pills. During train journey to Ranchi, respondent behaved in a strange manner. She used to speak incoherent without any sense. She used to laugh, cry and talk without any rhyme or reason. Petitioner and his brother who accompanied them to Ranchi spent sleepless nights taking care of her. Respondent's eratic behaviour continued and she began to show symptoms of an insane person. When it became un-controlled she was admitted in Davis Institute of Neuro-psychiatry at Ranchi. She was treated for schizophrenia and was administered electric shock. The matter was intimated to respondent's parents. Her father sent a letter giving details of medicine which were given to her before marriage. He sent through a person a prescription given by a local doctor and also some holy ashes for early cure. On 24-1-1982 her father reached Ranchi in the company of petitioner's brother and brother-in-law. On that day, she was discharged from the hospital, Doctors opined that she is a mental patient suffering from Schizophrenia and that if medicines are discontinued her ailment will become very acute. She was given electric shock on 25-1-1982 and on 30-1-1982. All of them returned to Kerala on 1-2-1982. Thereafter they are living separate. The marriage between the parties is null and void on the following grounds :

(i) At the time of the marriage the respondent has been suffering from mental disorder of such a kind and extent that she was unfit for marriage and procreation of children. She was also subject to recurrent attacks of insanity at the time of and prior to the marriage. The respondent was also incapable of giving a valid consent to the marriage in consequence of unsoundness of mind.

(ii) The consent of the petitioner to the marriage was obtained by fraud as the fact of mental disorder of the respondent was suppressed from the petitioner. Had he been aware of the mental illness of the respondent before the marriage, the petitioner would not have consented to the marriage. The respondent and her parents had deliberately played fraud upon the petitioner by concealing the mental incapacity of the respondent. After the fraud was detected by the petitioner be has not lived with the respondent as husband and wife.

On the above ground petitioner prayed for a decree of nullity of the marriage entered into between him and the respondent. In the alternative he prayed that the marriage between them be dissolved by a decree of divorce as the respondent has been incurably of unsound mind and has been suffering continuously from mental disorder of such a kind and to such an extent that the petitioner cannot reasonably be expected to live with the respondent

4. In the written objection filed by the respondent she has denied the allegation of mental disease.