The Madras High Court Bench here on Saturday heard marathon arguments advanced by women who had married “impotent” men, their parents, physicians, psychiatrists, lawyers and social workers on making premarital clinical examination mandatory for both males and females in order to prevent failure of marriages “either due to impotency or sexual frigidity.”
Justice N. Kirubakaran presided over the special sitting from 11 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. with a 30-minute lunch break and heard arguments both in favour and against making such clinical tests mandatory. People from Chennai, Salem and Virudhunagar gathered in the court following an open call given by the judge last week and threw light on the legal, moral and social dimensions attached to the issue.
Claiming to be one of the many victims who had married impotent men due to suppression of facts, a woman lawyer urged the court to make the tests mandatory besides prescribing stringent punishment for such men and their families. Another woman and her aged mother broke down before the judge and cried for help in resolving the issue.
Advocates Veera Kathiravan, K.K. Ramakrishnan and C. Ezhilarasu also spoke in favour of the medical test.
The two dissenting voices were that of Salem-based advocate V. Ramakrishnan and Virudhunagar-based general physician R. Ashokan. They claimed that having sex was not the only purpose of marital life.
Dismissing criticism that the court was going beyond its jurisdiction, Mr. Justice Kirubakaran said: “Whatever may be the criticism, Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure says this court can pass any order as it deems fit to secure the ends of justice. I feel that every case provides a platform for the court to give a message to society.”
Later, he adjourned the hearing to next Thursday.
