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Prayagraj, 09 November (HS). The Allahabad High Court has ruled that to seek divorce on the ground of refusal to have sexual intercourse, it must be shown that the refusal has been a persistent and continuing issue over a long period of time. A bench of Justices Soumitra Dayal Singh and Donadi Ramesh also asked what kind of physical intimacy the parties can maintain. This issue is not a matter for judicial determination.
The High Court said that “The issue of what kind of relationship the parties can maintain in relation to physical intimacy is not justifiable. It is not the job of the Court to make any law as to the precise nature of the personal relationship between the parties living in a marital relationship. In order to seek divorce on the grounds of refusal to have sexual intercourse, such an event would have to be in continuous existence over a long period of time.
The court made this observation while dismissing an appeal filed by a husband, in which he had challenged the decision passed by the Principal Justice of the Family Court, Mirzapur. In which her divorce petition was rejected. Both the parties (doctors by profession) were married in June 1999. They have two children, one of whom lives with his father and the other with his mother. Whereas the husband-appellant established his private practice in Delhi. His wife (respondent) was employed in the Indian Railways until she voluntarily retired.
After 9 years of their marriage, the appellant-husband initiated divorce proceedings in the Family Court of Mirzapur on the ground of cruelty. In which it was alleged that his wife (defendant) refused to have sexual relations under the influence of a religious teacher. The defendant wife denied the allegations and said that the birth of two children proves that they had a normal, healthy relationship.
Considering that the ground of cruelty alleged by the appellant-husband was not established during the trial. The Court prima facie noted that the evidence clearly showed that the parties had a normal marital relationship, with two children born within two years of their marriage. Therefore, no ground of incompetence on the part of the wife can ever exist.
