MADURAI: Reiterating its intention to make premarital potency tests mandatory to prevent marriages from breaking down, the Madras High Court on Friday said a special sitting of the court would be convened on September 13 to discuss the issue. “There is no question of individual freedom when it violates others’ rights,” Justice N Kirubakaran told government advocate Kandasamy, when the latter submitted that making potency tests mandatory for grooms could infringe upon individual liberty.
Last week, the judge had directed the Central and State governments to answer why premarital potency tests should not be made mandatory considering that several marriages have broken down on the same grounds. Countering the government advocate’s arguments, Justice Kirubakaran said in most Islamic states too premarital medical examination has become mandatory and it is high time the practice is made a law in India.
“Unless there is a law (regarding this), we cannot hold it and this court is committed to bring it to exercise,” he added. The judge also appreciated the media for taking up the issue for debate and eliciting the views of the public and parents. Therefore, the judge decided to hold a special sitting next Saturday for a wider discussion on the issue. He also appointed retired family court judge Raja Chokalingam as amicus curiae to assist the court in the case. Besides, he said, experts who were willing to assist the court in this regard could also come forward.
Last week, while hearing a petition from a man, who sought to quash proceedings initiated against him on the basis of a complaint from his wife, the judge had observed that “impotency” and “frigidity” were serious problems leading to breakdown of the institution of marriage. Impotency of the groom violated the basic human rights of a woman, he observed.