Infertility not ground to annul marriage: Jharkhand High Court rejects husband’s plea

In a decision that marriage is a sacrament and not a contract, the Jharkhand High Court has dismissed a husband's plea for his marriage to be annulled, alleging that his wife concealed her medical condition that affected her ability to conceive. The court emphasized that the Hindu Marriage Act treats marriage as a sacrament, rather than a contract, as outlined in the Contract Act.

The bench of Justices Sujit Narayan Prasad and Pradeep Kumar Srivastava observed that fraud under the Hindu Marriage Act cannot be interpreted the same way as fraud under the Contract Act. The court found that the husband was fully aware of his wife's medical condition since 2018 and dismissed his application for a decree of nullity under the Hindu Marriage Act.

The couple had married in 2017, with the husband claiming that his wife refused consummation and frequently stayed at her parents' home after the marriage, along with experiencing multiple health issues. He alleged that she had a chronic autoimmune condition, which she had concealed from him prior to their marriage. The husband spent around Rs 10 lakh on her treatment, and discovered her old medical records in October 2022 while cleaning his house.

He argued that his marriage was invalid due to fraud, but the court dismissed his plea, noting that the definition of fraud under the Contract Act cannot be applied to a sacramental marriage.