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HC junks woman's ₹90 lakh alimony plea as she fails to prove husband impotent
The woman had alleged that her husband was impotent at the time of marriage and had concealed that fact before marriage.
The Telangana high court has dismissed a woman's appeal seeking divorce and alimony of ₹90 lakh on the claim of marriage fraud. The woman had alleged that her husband was impotent and had concealed that before marriage. The court noted that she was unable to prove any of the allegations.
According to a report by LiveLaw, the HC division bench of Justice Moushumi Bhattacharya and Justice BR Madhusudhan Rao dismissed the woman's appeal against a trial court order that had also dismissed her plea seeking divorce on ground that her husband could not perform sexual intercourse due to erectile dysfunction. She had sought, thus, nullity of marriage and permanent alimony of ₹90 lakh, the report said.
The HC bench observed that the woman never informed her parents or in-laws about her husband's alleged impotence and inability to perform marital obligations; instead she joined him in the US, where they were living after marriage.
"We are of the view that the appellant has not made out any case to annul her marriage on the ground that the respondent is impotent and not capable of performing sex, underwent harassment in the hands of the respondent and also failed to prove that she is entitled to permanent alimony of ₹90,00,000/-. We are not inclined to interfere with the judgment passed by the Trial Court," the HC order stated.
What was the woman's appeal?
According to the LiveLaw report, the woman contended that her marriage took place on December 11, 2013, but was never consummated. She alleged that her husband failed to perform sexual intercourse that night as well as during their first honeymoon to Kerala in 2013, and a second honeymoon to Kashmir in 2014.
It was alleged that the husband had committed fraud on the wife by suppressing key facts, such as that he was suffering from rheumatoid arthritis, which caused erectile dysfunction.
The woman further claimed that her husband's condition was confirmed in 2017 after a medical diagnosis that he is not fit for marital life, and there is no possibility of having children. It was also alleged that the husband abandoned her in the US in 2018, where they were living after marriage.
The husband denied the allegations, stating that the marriage was consummated. While he did acknowledge that during their marriage he suffered temporarily from erectile dysfunction, he said that after he underwent treatment he was able to perform sex normally.
The claim was substantiated with medical reports confirming normospermia (normal sperm count). The husband contended that he and the wife had a sexual relationship on multiple occasions, including on the two honeymoons.
The high court noted several inconsistencies in the wife's claims. Furthermore, the bench pointed out that the woman admitted to knowing the man since 2007, being in a relationship with him from 2008 to 2010, and rekindling their relationship once again in 2012 before their marriage in 2013. Given this background, the court highlighted that the allegation of fraud cannot be corroborated.
