This Petition has been filed for a declaration of the marriage solemnized on 22.01.1981 at Roman Catholic Church Thalayavattai Kanniyakumar District as null and void on the ground the same is vitiated by fraud or in the alternative for judicial separation on the grounds of desertion coupled with cruelty.

2. The averments in the petition is as follows:-

(i) The marriage between the petitioner and the respondent took place on 22.01.1981. The marriage was solemnized at Roman Catholic Church Thalayavattai at Kanniyakumar District. At the time of marriage 12 sovereigns of jewels were given along with a bank pass book with a deposit of Rs.10,000/- and the respondent is in custody of the jewels till he deserted the petitioner in the year 1995. The respondent did not mind for the welfare of the family and did not evince any interest in taking care of the petitioner. She behaved in such un-tolerable manner. She quarrelled with the petitioner for no fault on his part. She did not cook for a week or two. On another occasion, she blamed her fate for marrying the petitioner and scolded her parents for selecting the petitioner as her husband. She was atrocious and arrogant that quite often she used to go to her parents without any reason whatsoever and without the knowledge and consent of the petitioner and stay there for weeks. Sometime for months together. She also attempted to suicide by pouring kerosene on her and setting fire. The respondent made the matrimonial home a hell and the petitioner was put to great and serious mental agony by the indecent and improper behaviour of the respondent. Since the said occurrence took place, not ones in the blue moon, but as a matter of regular recurrences. The petitioner never changed his treatment and approach to the respondent and treated her as he was treating her earlier, with the sole expectation that she would correct herself and become a family woman of normal wisdom. The respondent was unable to give birth to a child due to her physical infirmity. The impossibility of the respondent to conceive a child did not play any part to diminish the love and affection of the petitioner towards the respondent. The petitioner used to console himself and pacify his near and dear who used to worry for the absence of a child. He took all efforts to get rid of the infirmity of the respondent and arrange for medical treatment. She was treated by the famous Gynecologists, Dr.Joseph and Dr.Kamala Selvaraj. All the best treatment resulted in vain and it was found that it was impossible for the respondent to give birth to a child. The petitioner has spent Rs.80,000/- as medical expenses. Yet the petitioner did not hate her not was there any fail in the love and affection he had to her. (ii) But the behaviour of the respondent intolerable causing mental agony and though she was not able to give him a child, he did not mind under the bonafide hope in course of time, she would mend herself and proceed in the normal path as other house wives. The petitioner had been to the native place in the first week of September 1995 in connection with the marriage of the daughter of his brother which was celebrated on 19. 1995. The respondent refused to come to the village and did not attend the marriage of her in laws daughter. During the absence of the petitioner, the respondent deliberately and with ulterior motive got admitted herself in the hospital for no complaint whatsoever. She did not choose to send any message to the petitioner nor did she choose to get the consent of the petitioner. She got admitted in the G.G. Hospital, Chennai from 09.09.1995 onwards. The same came to be known to the petitioner from the hospital people that she was not having no specific complaints. On 27.09.1995, the respondent came to the house with a female child stating that the child was her child. The same was a terrible shock to the petitioner, who had been tolerating from the inception all the improper acts of the respondent an