Wife refusing sex with husband amounts to cruelty, valid ground for divorce: Court
Madhya Pradesh, Jan 13 : The Madhya Pradesh High Court recently ruled that a woman refusing to have physical relations with her husband amounts to “mental cruelty” and is a valid ground for him to seek divorce under the Hindu Marriage Act. The court’s order was passed on January 3 in a case between Sudeepto Saha and Moumita Saha.
A division bench of Justices Sheel Nagu and Vinay Saraf set aside the decision of a Bhopal family court in 2014 which had refused to grant divorce to Sudeepto. The high court ruled, “The non-consummation of marriage and denial of physical intimacy amounts to mental cruelty.”
Further, the court observed that Moumita or anyone on her behalf did not appear in court or file any reply, so Sudeepto’s allegation of mental cruelty had not been rebutted.
According to the plea filed by Sudeepto, seeking divorce from Moumita, she refused to consummate their marriage from the date of their wedding on July 12, 2006 till he left for the US on July 28, 2006. Sudeepto submitted that Moumita said she was forced into the marriage by her parents and refused to have physical relations with him because she already had a boyfriend.
After their wedding in West Bengal, she asked Sudeepto to hand her over to her boyfriend, according to the plea. She refused to consummate their marriage even after they reached their home in Bhopal. Moumita left their matrimonial home in Bhopal in September 2006 and never returned, Sudeepto submitted.
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He alleged that his ex-wife had also filed a “false complaint” in 2013 against him and his parents saying she was harassed and tortured by them over dowry matters. Further, after Moumita alleged that Sudeepto and his family tried to strangle her with a saree and tried to light her on fire, Sudeepto’s parents spent around 23 days in custody.
Moumita received Rs 10,00,000 from his father as a settlement and signed the divorce petition after she filed another report at a police station in Bhopal, Sudeepto submitted. However, she later refused to submit the signed petition before the competent court.
Sudeepto then approached the Bhopal Court seeking divorce, but the court denied his request saying there were no grounds for divorce.
He then approached the Madhya Pradesh High Court, which ultimately granted his divorce.
-The India Today
