AHMAD, C. J.

( 1 ) THIS is a reference made under Section 17 of the Indian Divorce Act 1869 (Act iv of 1869) by the District Judge of Cuttack-Dhenkanal, for confirmation of his judgment annulling the marriage of the petitioner with the respondent.

( 2 ) THE parties are Christians by faith and are governed by the Indian Divorce Act. The petitioner Arun Kumar Patra is a present resident of Cuttack, and the respondent comes from a family of Jamshedpur. It is not disputed that they were on the 17th April, 1959, married at Jamshedpur. At that time the age of the petitioner was about 25 years while that of the respondent was about 22 years. Hardly after marriage they had lived together in Cuttack for about three weeks that the present dispute began between the parties. The grievance made by the petitioner is that the respondent is impotent in relation to him and suffered from malformation in her physique and sex organ rendering marital relationship impossible It is not denied that there was never any consummation of the marriage and whenever the petitioner tried to have sexual intercourse with the respondent she shrieked and fainted. The explanation given by her is that whenever there