Bengaluru: Karnataka High Court has stated that a husband denying sex to his wife amounts to cruelty under only under Hindu Marriage Act-1955 and not under section 498A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The remarks came after the court in a recent judgment quashed proceedings in a criminal case lodged by a woman against her husband and his parents in 2020. The husband, according to a report in TOI, had moved court objecting to the chargesheet against him and his parents under IPC section 498A and section 4 of Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961.
While hearing the case, Justice M Nagaprasanna remarked that the lone allegation against the petitioner was that he followed a specific spiritual order under which he believed that “love is never about getting physical, it should be soul to soul”.
The court noted that he “never intended to have physical relationship with his wife”, which would “undoubtedly amount to cruelty due to non-consummation of marriage under section 12(1)(a) of Hindu Marriage Act”. But it did not fall under the purview of cruelty as defined under section 498A, it said.
The couple married on December 18, 2019, but the wife stayed at the marital home for only 28 days. She filed a police complaint on February 5, 2020, under Section 498A and the dowry act. She also filed a case before the family court under Section 12(1)(a) of Hindu Marriage Act, seeking annulment of marriage on the ground of cruelty, citing that the marriage was not consummated.
The wife decided to proceed with the criminal case while the marriage was annulled on November 16, 2022. The High Court said criminal proceedings could not be permitted to continue in the case as it would be “an abuse of the process of law".
Also read: 'Denial of sex' can't be 'exceptional hardship' for divorce within a year: Delhi HC
