Summary
The High Court should not have set aside a matrimonial medical-testing order in its entirety when the husband himself sought and consented to a potency test addressing the wife’s allegation of non-consummation. Its focus on unrelated conduct supplied no cogent reason to refuse that part of the order. The Supreme Court partly allowed the appeals, restoring only the husband’s test under the confidential medical-board procedure, with testing in four weeks and the report within two weeks thereafter.
Issues
- Whether the husband’s voluntary potency test should survive reversal of the wider testing order.
- What limited modification and timetable were appropriate.
Provisions considered
- Section 45; CPC Section 151, Indian Evidence Act, 1872The applications sought medical expertise in the matrimonial dispute; only the husband’s voluntarily requested potency test was restored. (¶¶ 5, 7, 8, 9)
- Sections 9 and 13(1)(ia), Hindu Marriage Act, 1955The testing dispute arose in the context of competing restitution and divorce proceedings; their substantive merits were not decided. (¶¶ 4, 5, 9)
Held
- The High Court gave no cogent reason why the husband, who was willing to undergo the test, could not be referred for examination. Its focus on the parties’ conduct was unrelated to determining the validity of the interim medical-testing direction. (¶¶ 7, 8)
- The trial order was maintained only insofar as it directed the husband’s potency examination. The Supreme Court did not restore the separate fertility or mental-health tests sought against the wife or decide any general power to compel those tests. (¶¶ 5, 7, 9)
- Testing must follow the trial court’s prescribed medical-board procedure, including sealed-cover reporting and confidentiality. The examination was to occur within four weeks and the report be submitted within two further weeks. The High Court order was modified only to that extent and the appeals partly allowed. (¶¶ 5, 9)
Result
Appeals partly allowed; husband’s potency test restored under the trial court’s procedure. Test within four weeks and report within two weeks thereafter; High Court order otherwise left intact.