Satish Chandra Mittal, J. - (1.) FACTS giving rise to this letters patent appeal are that Ashok Kumar Sharma and Kanta alias Sham Wati were married on 20th June, 1973 The former on 3rd June 1974, instituted petition for annulment of marriage on the ground that Kanta was not only was idiot but also sexually impotent. The petition was contested by Kanta Initially, the parties went on trial on the following issue: - - Whether the petitioner is entitled to the annulment of his marriage with the respondent by a decree of divorce for the reasons given in paragraph No. 4 of the petition? In the course of the trial, Ravi Dutt, father of Ashok Kumar, appeared as his witness and supported the grounds of divorce. In the cross examination of Ravi Dutt, the suggestion put to him was that he had an evil eye on Kanta. An identical suggestion was put to Ashok Kumar in his cross examination. Both of them refuted the allegation. Not only that, Ashok Kumar felt that the said allegation amounted to cruelty. As such, he applied for adding the ground of cruelty for the dissolution of marriage by amending his petition. The trial Court allowed the application and framed the following additional issue: - - 1 -A Whether the treatment of the respondent had been cruel as alleged? If so to what effect
(2.) THE trial Court decided both the issues against Ashok Kumar. His petition having been dismissed Ashok Kumar preferred an appeal, wherein the learned Single Judge affirmed the decision of the trial Court on both the issues and dismissed the appeal. Feeling aggrieved, Ashok Kumar has preferred this appeal As regards issue No. 1, it is manifest that under the order of the trial Court, Kanta was medically examined by Dr Nirmal Chaudhary and she reported on 7th May, 1976, that the allegation of sexual impotency levelled against Kanta was false. Notwithstanding the concurrent finding of the trial Court and the learned Single Judge against Ashok Kumar, his learned counsel contended that the petition was filed in June 1974 whereas Kanta was medically examined in May 1976 During this period, according to the learned counsel, she as a result of some treatment, had become sexually potent In the course of arguments, the learned counsel contended that certain letters on record, but without any reference to their exhibit marks, did indicate that she got herself medically treated. All the same, the fact remains that no such material was ever placed before the learned Single Judge, in particular. Nor has it been shown to us that the nature of the treatment, allegedly written in the letters, had any bearing on sexual impotency. As such no cogent ground at all has been made out to interfere with a finding of fact in this letters patent appeal.
(3.) AS regards the ground that Kanta was an idiot, the trial Court, in order to do complete justice between the parties, got her examined by Dr. Vidya Sagar, who kept her under observation from 22nd to 27th September, 1976. The doctor then expressed the following view: - - During this time, I found Kanta Rani to be intelligent young lady who was well versed in household work and was quite conversant with the responsibilities of a house -wife. She had taken a realistic attitude towards her present stressful situation. Emotionally she was well -controlled and had shown the traditional modesty of an Indian woman...I formed the opinion that she was not suffering from any mental disease. Thus, the concurrent finding of the trial Court and the learned Single Judge is that the opinion of Dr. Vidya Sagar falsified the above -said allegation made against Kanta. Here again, learned counsel for Ashok Kumar laid emphasis on the gap between the institution of the petition and the examination on Kanta by Dr. Vidya Sagar. The evidence of Ashok Kumar and bis parents as to the abnormal behaviour of Kanta clearly shows as if she was a complete idiot or lunatic. Quite to the contrary, not a trace of any such thing was found by Dr. Vidya Sagar. Learned counsel for Ashok Kumar was unable to show how with the passage of time, such a great transformation could take place. Thus the finding of the learned Single Judge against Ashok Kumar is perfectly sound.;