Kerala: Wife entitled to divorce if she is victim of sexual perversion, HC

Kerala: The Superior Tribunal has held that a wife has the right to seek divorce if her husband commits sexual perversion against her will. A division bench comprising Justice Amit Rawal and Justice CS Sudha held that sexual perversion against the will and consent of the wife was certainly an act of physical as well as mental cruelty and was grounds for granting divorce. The Tribunal admitted the appeal filed by the aggrieved spouse. Challenging the order of the Family Tribunal which had rejected her divorce petition on the grounds of cruelty and abandonment. The couple married on 23 August 2009 and lived together for 17 days. According to the wife, during the short period she lived with her husband, he tortured her physically and mentally. The husband had some sexual perversions and was forced to imitate scenes from porn films. When she refused to obey him, the husband beat her. He took nude photos of her with his mobile phone and bit her all over her face. When he fell asleep his lips remained straight. The petitioner refrained from giving graphic details of various acts or perversions in the petition in order to maintain decorum and decorum. The Chamber of Division said that the Family Tribunal has given quite strange reasoning for rejecting the divorce petition of the petitioner. According to the Family Tribunal, it was impossible that the accused would have committed the act which the petitioner has mentioned or that the couple would have lived together. The Tribunal set aside the Family Tribunal order and granted the divorce.