Marriage is Not a Contract for Sexual Pleasure: Delhi Court
The man had moved to the court after 16 years of marriage saying that his wife was being cruel to him and not even taking care of the family.
A family court in Delhi has given a rare judgement in a case of marital rape by a husband who filed for a divorce as his wife put him through cruelty. It has come across that it was the man who had been inflicting violence on the wife in the name of sexual pleasure. He was committing sexual abuse and domestic violence on her.
The court in its observations mentioned, "Although in our country marital rape is not considered as an offence, it constitutes inflicting mental cruelty as it connotes lack of respect, dignity and sensitivity towards the wife and violates of the right to life and liberty as enshrined in the Constitution of India." The husband's plea for divorce has been dismissed and the principal judge Dharmesh Sharma agreed to the fact that sexual intimacy is key component of a lawful marriage. The judgement further reads, "The husband cannot indulge in sexual intimacy in such a manner that is discomforting to the wife to her body, mind and soul,'' said the judgement. It stresses on the need of consent for indulging in sexual intercourse.
The man had moved to the court after 16 years of marriage saying that his wife was being cruel to him and not even taking care of the family. The women refuted by saying it was he, who put her through extreme acts of mental and physical cruelty. The woman lacked the courage to speak about it to anyone. In 2007, she finally told her brother in US about it. In her letter, she mentioned that her husband treated her no less than a slave.
Contrary to his claims of she not taking care of their kids and in-laws, the woman was only sitting quietly for so long so that she could take care of her children well. She did not want to ruin their future and was silently suffering. It has now been clarified that the husband was indulging in marital rape and in turn degrading his own wife.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 25, 2018 04:23 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).