JUDGMENT :

Bechu Kurian Thomas, J.

Can a party to a litigation seek production of the medical records of a stranger to the lis especially those relating to a person with alleged mental illness? Such a question has arisen for consideration in this case.

2. Petitioner is the holder of a degree in M.Tech with second rank in the University. She complains of an intrusion into her rights of privacy brought about on account of a court certificate issued by the Family Court, Pala, for producing medical records of treatment undergone by the petitioner and her mother in a hospital.

3. Petitioner's sister and her husband are respondents 1 and 2. They are litigants in a proceeding for divorce, pending as O.P.(Div.) No.584 of 2017 before the Family Court, Pala, initiated by the 2nd respondent. Petitioner is a stranger to the said proceedings.

4. Petitioner pleads that. recently, she came to know that her medical treatment records were handed over by the respective hospitals to the 2nd respondent for producing in O.P. (Div.) No.584 of 2017 of Family Court, Pala, on the basis of Ext.P5 Court Certificate issued by the said court. Petitioner apprehends that the treatment records are obtained to defame h