Bombay High Court in the case of Harish @ Roshan Karnewar vs Leelavati @ Reena Karnewar has held that one cannot seek divorce under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 on the ground that their spouse is suffering from epilepsy.
“The condition of “epilepsy” is neither an incurable disease nor can it be considered a mental disorder or a psychopathic disorder, for making a ground under Section 13(1)(iii) of the Hindu Marriage Act.”
A division bench of Justices Vinay Joshi and Valmiki SA Menezes made the above observation while upholding a 2016 family court judgment that had denied divorce to a man who claimed that his wife was suffering from epilepsy. The husband had contended that the condition of epilepsy as an incurable disease that had led to her being unsound of mind.
The husband had alleged that due to epilepsy, his wife exhibited abnormal behaviour and even threatened to commit suicide, all of which led to a breakdown of the marriage.
The Court found that as per a Neurologist who treated the wife, she had only suffered from a brain seizure and not epilepsy.
“The second fact as deposed by an expert, a Neurologist by profession was that epilepsy itself is a medical condition in which a person suffering from it can lead a normal life. Thus clearly, even assuming the wife was suffering from epilepsy, this was certainly not a mental disorder or a psychopathic disorder or for that matter can be even considered as leaving her incurably of unsound mind,”