Failure to prove serious mental illness or fraud in marriage annulment under Hindu Marriage Act, emphasizing strict evidentiary standards.

1. The petitioner - husband is aggrieved by the judgment dated 8-11-1995 in Civil Suit No. 55 - A of 1992 by 3rd Additional District Judge, Raipur, whereby the application under S.12(1)(b) and (c) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 (hereinafter referred to as the Act), was dismissed.

2. It is not disputed that the marriage between the petitioner and the respondent was solemnized on 20-6-1991.

3. The petition under S.12(1)(b) and (c) of the Act for annulment of the marriage was filed on the ground that on 21st June 1991 during cohabitation, the respondent was wholly unresponsive, cold and made nauseating gestures and lay like a corpse. Thereafter, the respondent used to be silent and used to make smiling gestures for no reason, although she remained calm and quite when asked about it. Her thinking was incoherent and behaviour unusual. It was noticed that she used to mutter that either she is goddess of purity ravaged by a demon or was kindled with spirit which would shatter her life. She always appeared to be sleepless and many a times showed emotional outburst either by weeping or by thumping of feet and hands etc., intending to show that she hated the petitioner. She used to sit in the toilet for hours. On 25-6-1991 she started muttering that she should be called Chandramukhi and that problems would be falling on the house. The petitioner intimated the condition of the respondent to her father Shri Bankelal Agrawal at Bilaspur who was an Income Tax and Sales Tax Advocate. On 26th June, 1991, the respondent's mother and brother took her to Bilaspur saying that similar symptoms were revealed in 1985 for which the respondent was treated by doctors. The petitioner also learnt that on 2-7-1991, the respondent had been admitted in the hospital of Dr. Prakash Narayan Shukla. On enquiry, Dr. Shukla told him that the deceased would require regular treatment. The respondent got discharged from the hospital on 10-7-1991. On 2-8-1991, upon receiving a letter the petitioner went to Bilaspur and found that the respondent was being treated by a "Baigd" who said that some evil spirit had entered her body. On 11-11-1991, the petitioner went to Raipur and met Dr. Prakash Narayan Shukla who informed him that the respondent was being treated for a serious mental disorder. The father of the respondent intimated the petitioner vide letter dated 20-2-1991 that he had got the respondent examined by Dr. Rakesh Agrawal, an expert in the field of Neurology and Psychiatry. However, having already learnt from Dr. Prakash Narayan Shukla that the respondent was suffering from Paranoid Schizophrenia, the petitioner did not visit Raipur.

4. It was alleged that the respondent and her father did not disclose before marriage that the respondent was undergoing treatment for a serious mental disorder. On the other hand, they assured him that the respondent is a very simple and normal person. In this manner, fraud was practised on the petitioner. The consent of the petitioner was thus obtained by fraud. On these premises, the petitioner prayed that the marriage between the petitioner and the respondent solemnized on 20-6-1991 at Bhatapara, District Raipur, be annulled by a decree of nullity.

5. The respondent denied the allegations in toto and pleaded that she was a well educated lady of sound health. Since the petitioner had become over age and was not getting a suitable match, his family members had arranged the petitioner's marriage after seeing the respondent and talking to her family member. No information was concealed from the relatives of the petitioner. The respondent had a degree of Master