MUMBAI: Willfully denying sex to one’s spouse without any reason is mental cruelty and is a reason for divorce , the Bombay high court has ruled.

Five years after Girgaum resident Shailesh Sharma married Naina, the HC upheld the divorce order granted by a family court on the grounds that his wife treated him cruelly by denying sexual relations and also sending him and his family behind bars on a false complaint of dowry. Stating the two of them lived together for barely a month, Shailesh alleged Naina did not let him touch her on the first night of their wedding and that they had physical relations only once during their married life.

“Sex plays an important role in marital life and cannot be separated from other factors that lend to matrimony a sense of fruition and fulfillment,” said a division bench of Justice Vijaya Kapse-Tahilramani and Justice P N Deshmukh. Citing a Supreme Court judgment, the court said a person of normal health, when denied cohabitation by his spouse, will undergo anguish and frustration and it is akin to subjecting him to mental cruelty. “(Shailesh’s) evidence that Naina avoided physical relations with him is sufficient to hold that he was subjected to cruelty,” said the bench.

Shailesh and Naina got married on April 27, 2008. According to Shailesh, she refused to consummate the marriage on their first night. A few days later, they had physical relations, and it was the only time. On May 21, 2008, she left for her parent’s home and never returned, he claimed. In 2010, Shailesh moved for divorce, which was granted by the family court in 2012. But Naina challenged the order and said she was subjected to abuse and Shailesh and his family demanded a dowry of Rs 1.5 lakh.

Pointing to documents, the HC said Naina’s allegations about dowry were not believable. “(Shailesh’s) evidence that he and his parents were kept in police custody due to a false complaint by Naina (and that it) caused cruelty to them is reliable,” said the HC, dismissing her application challenging the divorce.