KOCHI: Kerala high court has held that a wife is entitled to divorce on grounds of
physical cruelty
if she has been subjected to
sexual perversions
by her husband against her will.
The court said that different people may define
sexually perverse acts
differently, but if one of the parties engaging in sex objects to the same but the other person continues, that would amount to cruelty.
A division bench of Justices Amit Rawal and CS Sudha said that if the conduct and character of a person causes misery and agony to the spouse, the said conduct would certainly be an act of cruelty to the spouse, justifying the grant of divorce. "Subjecting the wife to sexual perversions against her will and consent is certainly an act of mental as well as physical cruelty," the HC held.
The couple were married in 2009 and the husband purportedly went abroad for employment after 17 days of cohabitation. After he left, the wife continued to stay in her matrimonial home till November 29, 2009. Gold ornaments and Rs 1 lakh given at the time of her marriage were misappropriated by the husband and his family. On November 29, 2009 the wife was sent out of the matrimonial home by her in-laws. The next day, she and her mother filed a complaint , after which the husband has never contacted her or cared to provide for her. During her brief period of cohabitation with the husband, he had harassed her both physically and mentally. She alleged that he used to subject the petitioner to sexually perverse acts and, when she refused to obey his directions, he had physically assaulted her.
The court noted that while the pleadings did not contain specific details of physical and
sexual abuse
, the wife had described them in detail when she was cross-examined during the trial of a criminal case in which the husband was charged with cruelty (IPC Section 498A).
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