Denying sex ground for divorce: HC

NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court has dissolved a marriageon the ground that the woman denied sex to husband for a long period amounting tomental cruelty.

A bench of justices Pradeep Nandrajog and Pratibha Ranisaid denial of sex without justification counts as a ground for divorce and allowed the plea of the husband seeking divorce. He had complained that his wife subjected him to mental cruelty by denying physical relations for four-and-a-half years, though she was not suffering from any physical disability that could be used as a justification.

In its judgment, the bench referred to the settled legal position that "denial of sex to a spouse itself amounts to causing mental cruelty". "The appeal being well-founded deserves to be allowed," it said, adding "we grant a decree of divorce in favour of the husband".

In its verdict, HC also took into account the fact that the wife had not contested the allegation before the trial court.

The husband had approached the high court challenging a trial court order which dismissed his divorce petition, saying that the instances of cruelty pleaded and proved by him did not prove adequate to count as a ground for divorce. However, the high court pointed out that the wife had even stopped appearing in court after a few initial hearings and it was forced to proceed ex parte. The husband informed the high court that their marriage was solemnised in 2001 and they have two children.

The husband said that even his family members were subjected to mental cruelty by his wife as she did not do any household work. When her conduct became unbearable, his parents asked the couple to live in a separate portion of the same house. In her written statement filed before the trial court, the wife had initially contested the divorce plea filed by the husband and denied the allegations