Indian Kanoon - Search engine for Indian Law

3. In the counter filed by the appellant she denied the allegation of adultery. Her contention was that the child born on 30-8-1978 was begotten through the respondent and none else.

4. So, the question to be decided is, whether the finding of the court below that the appellant is guilty of adultery is correct.

5. The evidence consists of the oral evidence of P. Ws. 1 to 5 and R. W. 1 and Exts. A-1 to A-8. P. W. 1 is the petitioner himself. He has given evidence to the effect that in 1976, January, he underwent vasectomy operation. On 20-8-1978 he took his wife to her house for delivery. He swears about the tests he underwent and also proves the documents produced by him in support of his contention that he is sterile after the vasectomy operation. In cross-examination he has spoken that doubts about the chastity of his wife started only in 1977. He also speaks about the maintenance case filed by the appellant against him before the Magistrate's Court. In the last portion of his cross-examination he has stated that he is willing to maintain the 4th child of the appellant and also to live with her as husband and wife, provided she admits that she has committed adultery.

P. W. 2 is the Doctor who issued Ext. A-3 certificate on the basis of the result of the examination of the semen of the husband on 29-1-1970. He gave the requisition for the examination to the Public Health Laboratory, Calicut. After examination the husband brought the result of the analysis to P. W. 2, which is marked as Ext. A-2. He has given evidence to the effect that as per Ext. A-2 his semen contains no sperm and so he is incapable of procreation. On that basis he issued Ext. A-3 certificate. In cross-examination he has stated that he found a scar at the place where vasectomy operation was said to have been done on the husband. He has stated that similar scar can be seen for other reasons also. He has further stated that he cannot say as to when exactly the sterility started in this case. Sperms will be present even after the vasectomy operation, if the operation is not successful. He had no occasion to examine the husband before this examination. Believing his words that he has got children before the operations, P. W. 2 has given evidence that he became sterile after the operation. The petitioner had shown Ext. A-1 certificate to P. W. 2 when he met him. Ext A-1 certificate is the duplicate certificate issued to the petitioner by the Assistant Medical Officer of Health, K ozhikode, after the vasectomy operation.

P. W. 3 is the Doctor who was the Convenor of the Santhosh Trophy Mini Camp, Calicut, which was a camp for male sterilisation. P. W. 3 has issued Ext. A-1 duplicate certificate. As per the evidence of P. W. 3 he has performed Vasectomy operation on one I. Subramoniam, 26 years, Bangalath P. O., Moreyoor, via. Kondotty, Malappuram District on 8-1-1976, as per acquittance No. 962. He proves Ext. A-1. In cross-examination he has stated that he was not shown any identification mark of the person operated upon. He has also stated that there is a chance of 1% failure in Vasectomy operations. P. W. 4 is the Medical Officer in the Regional Public Health Laboratory, Calicut. The husband met, him with the requisition of P. W. 2 on 29-1-1979. He proves the report of the Analyst, namely Ext. A-2. He also speaks about another examination of the husband's semen on 22-9-1979. The report of that analysis is Ext. A-5. The analysis was done by the Scientific Officer in the Laboratory. In Ext. A-2 the identification marks of the husband and his address are not given. The semen was not taken in the presence of P. W. 4. He has not signed Exts.

"A major disadvantage of vasectomy is that sterility is not immediate. Complete expulsion of sperm stored in the reproductive tract beyond the interrupted vas deferens may take a week to several months. The time appears to depend in part on the frequency of ejaculation. Semen should be checked until two consecutive sperm counts are negative. During this period, another form of contraception must be used. The failure rate for vasectomy is estimated to be about 1 to 100 (Population Reports, Jan., 1975)."