Landmark ruling: Wife’s non-virginity cannot be reason to seek annulment of marriage, holds court

TDT | Manama     

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

The Court of Cassation has established a new legal principle, ruling that a husband’s claim of his wife’s non-virginity is not a ground for annulment of the marriage contract if it was not stipulated as a condition in the contract.

This landmark decision comes in a case where the court ordered the husband to pay his ex-wife the remaining dowry and divorce compensation.

According to court files, the plaintiff was married to the defendant, and they had consummated the marriage and lived together as husband and wife.

However, the husband later divorced her without her consent, claiming that she was not a virgin at the time of marriage and had concealed this fact from him.

As a result, she left the marital home after 21 days and traveled outside Bahrain. She then filed a lawsuit demanding divorce compensation and the remaining dowry of BD2,000.

In response, the husband filed a counterclaim seeking the annulment of the marriage contract and demanding that the plaintiff return the dowry totaling BD3,000.

Before deciding on the merits of the case, the court referred the plaintiff to a medical committee to determine the date of the rupture of the hymen.

The Court of First Instance ruled that the husband should pay the wife divorce compensation of BD240 for the divorce and the remaining dowry of BD2,000.

The court also rejected the husband’s counterclaim.