Karnataka High Court rejects man's plea for psychiatric examination of estranged wife

The Karnataka High Court recently rejected a man's plea to refer his wife for a psychiatric examination at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) amid a matrimonial dispute..Justice M Nagaprasanna also expressed disappointment that the man was seeking to project his wife as being of unsound mind to get their marriage annulled."It is rather unfortunate that by seeking annulment of marriage, the husband has sought to project the wife being of unsound mind, her intelligence is at 11 years and 8 months and seeks to contend that the marriage itself is void and a fraud is being played by the respondents on the petitioner on the score that if the mental age of the wife is not that of 18 years of age, the marriage is void. Such submissions are noted only to be rejected, as the husband has not preferred a petition before the concerned Court (family court) invoking mental unsoundness of the wife, but it is on cruelty," the Court said..The Court further found that the wife had produced documents to show that she was of sound mind, which indicated that her husband was trying to fabricate a ground for the annulment of their marriage. "The wife has produced plethora of documents to demonstrate that she is highly talented and has been participating in several cultural competitions and has earned several encomiums. A perusal of all of which would clearly indicate that the husband is trying to prepare a platform in his favour for seeking annulment of marriage before the concerned Court," the March 12 order said. .The Court was hearing an appeal against an order of a family court in Bengaluru that rejected the man's plea for his wife's psychiatric examination.The couple married in late 2020, but started living separately from January 28, 2021 onwards after disputes arose. In June 2022, the wife filed a complaint against the husband alleging cruelty and dowry harassment.Thereafter, the man filed an application before the family court seeking an annulment of the marriage on grounds of cruelty. .In the same proceeding, he filed an application to refer his wife for a psychiatric examination at NIMHANS. The husband claimed that she had already earlier undergone a evaluation which indicated that she only had borderline intelligence and was mentally 11 years and 8 months old, even she was physically in her 20s. He added that the wife had also admitted consuming certain medicines since she was 13 years old. He contended that these aspects were primarily why he sought an annulment of their marriage. He stated that the marriage itself was void, since the wife was not (mentally) 18 years old.Since the family court chose to defer a decision on his plea for a psychiatric examination of the wife, the man approached the High Court with the said plea. .The wife, meanwhile, denied these allegations. Before the High Court, her counsel pointed out that the husband's plea for annulment was filed on the ground of cruelty and not on unsoundness of mind. Documents were also produced to show that the wife was a singer, a teacher and was attending college continue her studies, and had passed several technical examinations..After an analysis of the case records, the High Court was unconvinced by the husband's allegations that the wife was mentally unsound. Referring to the decision in Sharda v Dharmpal, it was noted that the Supreme Court had emphasized that the power to direct psychiatric evaluations should be exercised only if there is a strong prima facie material warranting the conduct of such a test. No such material was found in this case. Accordingly, the Court rejected the man's plea and imposed costs of ₹50,000 on him to be paid to the wife. .The petitioner (husband) was represented by advocate Nagaraj. The respondents (wife, her father) were represented by advocate Latha G.