Jaipur: A division bench of the Rajasthan High Court has annulled (void) the marriage of a woman suffering from mental illness (schizophrenia).
The court held that the consent of the husband was obtained fraudulently by concealing the mental disease of the wife, and their marriage was also not consummated. Hence, such a marriage is voidable one.
At the same time, the division bench of the High Court queshed the order of the family court, which dismissed the apeal of the husband in 2019.
The court observed that schizophrenia is a mental disorder, and in its active state, it can prevent a person from leading a normal married life.
The division bench of Justice Inderjit Singh and Justice Anand Sharma did a detailed review of the record, witnesses, and medical evidence and found that the wife had schizophrenia and she was taking medicine for this disease. This fact was hidden from the husband and his family before marriage.
The counsel of the husband, Uday Shankar Acharya, and Uma Shankar Acharya said that with this verdict, all the cases of maintenance, domestic violence, and dowry harassment registered against the husband will also end. For this, a copy of the order issued by the High Court has been sent to the district court.
The legal process in this case took around 12 years. As per the details of the case, this marriage took place in 2103, and after marriage, the woman allegedly behaved abnormally when she reached her in-laws' house. A prescription from a psychiatrist was found in her belongings, which mentioned that she was undergoing treatment for schizophrenia The husband had filed a petition in the family court of Kota demanding dissolution of the marriage on the ground of the wife's illness. At the same time, the wife accused the husband and in-laws of demanding dowry and harassment.
The Kota's Family Court No. 3 had dismissed the petition in 2019, upon which the husband filed an appeal in the Rajasthan High Court Jaipur Bench.
