MUMBAI: Depriving a woman of physical relationship and suspecting her character amounts to cruelty, a local court has held while granting divorce to a 27-year-old woman.

“The respondent (husband) has no right to deprive the petitioner (wife) from physical relations or to suspect her character. It can be safely said that such conduct is more than sufficient which amounts to cruelty,” the court said. It directed the 33-year-old man to pay the woman Rs 3 lakh as permanent alimony.

The couple was in a relationship for about two years before getting married in February 2009. In her petition seeking divorce in February 2012, the woman alleged once the marriage ceremony was over she was shocked to see her in-laws had occupied the room her father had arranged for their first night.

She said the man refused to consummate the marriage under the pretext he was stressed as he had lost his job and was unemployed till October 2009. She added the situation persisted till March 2010.

The woman accused her mother-in-law of abusing and constantly asking her to leave their home. Things became worse after her husband suspected her character.

Despite several notices, the husband failed to appear before the court and in March it decided to proceed ex parte.

The woman said her father tried to talk to her father-in-law after he learnt about the abuse but nothing worked out.

The court observed the couple was in love before their marriage, but it vanished from the day of the marriage. “Character is the biggest ornament of any person, particularly for women. No one could tolerate if the character is suspected for no reasons,” the court observed.

“Marriage gives right and casts liabilities in the spouse. It is but natural for the parties to have justifiable expectations from each other. Physical relationship is one of the most basic marital obligations. No party has right to deprive other from marital bliss without any justifiable reason."

