In an important order on marital disputes, the Madras High Court recently ruled that the refusal of a spouse to cooperate in a conjugal relationship after 16 years of marriage cannot be grounds for granting divorce or dissolution of the marriage. A division bench of justices R Subbiah and C Saravanan gave the ruling while dismissing an appeal by Krishnaraj of Erode district against the family court order issued on October 2016, declining divorce on that ground.
The bench observed that it is not a case of the appellant stating that the marriage was not consummated and that the respondent refused sexual intercourse soon after the marriage. The appellant cannot contest after 16 years of marriage that he was denied conjugal bliss and subjected to cruelty, it said, and added that he had subjected his wife to cruelty by having an ‘extra-marital relationship’ with his aunt’s daughter. Pointing out that the appellant had sent 200 to 300 text messages to his cousin, the court said it was evident that the appellant had insisted his cousin marry him, hence, he was a ‘wrong-doer’.
Noting that the wife would not have consented for sexual intercourse owing to physical inability or commitment to children as it was natural due to ageing, the bench said the appellant refused to accept the change associated with ageing. There is lack of acceptance on the part of the appellant, it said, and held that physical relationship between the couple would slow down in normal married life and it cannot be regarded as grounds for dissolution of marriage. This order, though applicable to a particular case, should be viewed as a general advice to couples. In these times, when divorce cases are on the rise, it is in the hands of couples to make their marital life a bliss or mess.