The Allahabad High Court has said that denying sex for a long period without any valid reason is tantamount to mental cruelty. It heard the petition by a man who appealed against the dismissal of his divorce petition by a family court.
The High Court observed that both parties were not together for a long time, and the wife had denied fulfilling the obligation of ‘marital liability.’ Incidentally, the couple got married way back in 1979, though the wife’s Gauna ceremony, as per their community, was held after seven years.
And within six months, the wife returned to her parents, and the couple has been living separately ever since. The woman denied any physical relationship during that period. She later married a different man.
Prior to that, the couple got a mutually agreed divorce before a panchayat. The man approached the Court seeking divorce on the grounds of marital cruelty and desertion. He was refused one at the family court on the grounds of cruelty. Following this, he appealed to the Allahabad High Court.
While the Court observed that denying sex for a long time was mental cruelty, the said couple have been living separately, and the Court observed that they could not forcibly keep them tied in a broken-down marriage.
