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Deep Mukerjee vs. Sreyashi Banerjee

Not available · 2024 INSC 274Decided 5 Apr 2024
Not available
Justice Vikram Nath · Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra

Background

A husband and wife married in 2013, lived together happily in the UK for over seven years, and later separated in 2021 after disputes arose. The husband filed for restitution of conjugal rights, while the wife filed for divorce alleging the marriage was never consummated due to the husband's impotency. The husband then sought a trial court order requiring himself to undergo a potency test and the wife to undergo fertility and psychological tests; the trial court allowed this, but the High Court set aside that order on revision by the wife.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the High Court had not given cogent reasons for refusing the potency test and had wrongly focused on the parties' conduct rather than the merits of the applications. Since the husband himself was willing to undergo the potency test, the Court found no reason to deny it. The Court partly allowed the appeals, restoring the trial court's order only to the extent of directing the husband to undergo the potency test within four weeks, with the report to follow within two weeks thereafter.

Lesson Learnt

In matrimonial disputes involving allegations of impotency or non-consummation, courts can permit relevant medical testing when a party voluntarily agrees to undergo it, and appellate courts must give substantive reasons tied to the merits rather than deciding such applications based on the parties' general conduct.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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