Prolonged matrimonial litigation causes frustration, perpetuates marriage on paper: Supreme Court

Key points

• The Supreme Court has observed that allowing matrimonial disputes to remain unresolved for years serves only to keep a marriage alive on paper, as it dissolved the marriage of a couple who had been living apart for over 15 years.
• The court noted that the Rajasthan High Court had earlier granted a divorce to the husband on multiple grounds, including allegations of cruelty by the wife.
• Among the factors considered was the wife's repeated denial of sexual relations, which the High Court held amounted to mental cruelty.
• “The courts in India have repeatedly established that withholding sexual intimacy inflicts severe emotional distress and undermines the bedrock of marriage,” a bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and Augustine George Masih said.
• "Therefore, the conclusion of the high court is sustained.