Madhya Pradesh HC: Denial of complete marriage, denial of physical intimacy amounts to mental cruelty

The Madhya Pradesh High Court has said that refusing to consummate the marriage and denying physical intimacy amounts to mental cruelty and is a valid ground for divorce.

A division bench of Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Vinay Saraf on January 3 granted divorce to a man on the grounds that his wife had refused to continue the marriage and had refused to have physical intimacy with him since their marriage in 2006. Had given.

“Not marrying and denying physical intimacy amounts to mental cruelty,” the high court said in its order.

According to the appeal filed by the man, he had married the woman in July 2006. However, his wife refused to live with him and continue the marriage as she claimed that she was forced into the marriage.

The woman allegedly told the man that she loved someone else and requested him to unite them.

The man said he moved to the US for work that same month and the woman went to live with her family in September and never returned.

In 2011, the man filed an application before a family court in Bhopal for divorce. In 2014, the Family Court rejected the petition.

After this the person filed an appeal in the High Court.

The high court, in its order, said that on several occasions the woman refused to continue the marriage and have physical relations with her husband.

“We understand that unilateral refusal to have sexual intercourse for a prolonged period without any physical disability or valid reason can amount to mental cruelty,” the bench said.

While setting aside the family court order, the High Court said that the lower court had wrongly held that failure on the part of the wife to consummate the marriage cannot be a ground for divorce.