Wife Forcing Husband to Live in Separate Room is Cruelty: Allahabad High Court
The Allahabad High Court has ruled that forcing a husband to live in a separate room and denying him conjugal rights amounts to mental and physical cruelty.
A Division Bench of Justice Ranjan Roy and Justice Subhash Vidyarthi made this ruling while granting divorce to a man whose wife allegedly threatened suicide and criminal action if he entered her room.
The Court said the wife had clearly abandoned the matrimonial relationship by refusing cohabitation. It added that it did not matter whether she was living in the same house or elsewhere since she had barred the husband from entering her room.
“Cohabitation is an essential part of marriage. If a wife forces her husband to live separately, depriving him of conjugal rights, it affects his mental and physical health and amounts to cruelty,” the Court observed.
Case Background
- The couple married in 2016. It was the woman’s first marriage and the man’s second.
- The husband said relations were normal only for 4–5 months, after which his wife began harassing him.
- In April 2017, she allegedly deserted him.
- He filed for divorce in 2018.
Although the wife initially appeared before the family court, she later ignored summons and the case went on ex-parte.
Family Court’s Decision
In January 2023, the family court rejected the husband’s plea, stating that he had not given sufficient details of the threats. It also dismissed his father’s testimony, assuming he would naturally support his son.
High Court’s Findings
The Allahabad High Court disagreed, holding that:
- Family members are natural witnesses in matrimonial disputes and their testimony cannot be discarded.
- The wife did not file a written statement to counter the allegations, which implied acceptance.
- The husband’s earlier marriage ended in mutual consent divorce with no allegations against him, so assumptions against him were unjustified.
The Court ruled that there was clear evidence of cruelty, and therefore granted the divorce.
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