Mumbai: In a significant judgment, the Bombay High Court has ruled that a husband’s petition for divorce can be valid even if the wife refuses to engage in physical intimacy. The court stated that denying conjugal rights and suspecting the husband of having extramarital affairs amounts to mental cruelty.
The ruling came after a woman challenged a divorce granted by a Pune family court. She also demanded ₹1 lakh per month as alimony. However, the High Court dismissed her petition, siding with the lower court’s decision.
Delving into the case, the court observed that the woman’s behaviour towards her husband, his family members — including his disabled sister — and colleagues amounted to harassment. It found that her conduct had caused severe emotional distress to the husband.
The couple had married in 2013 but had been living separately since 2014. The husband alleged that his wife refused physical intimacy, suspected him of infidelity, and humiliated him publicly in front of friends, family, and co-workers. In 2015, he filed for divorce in a Pune family court, which was granted. His wife subsequently approached the Bombay High Court to challenge the ruling, but her plea was dismissed, marking a legal endorsement of the initial verdict.