Is The Interpretation Of Mental Cruelty Due To Sexual Frailty Too Liberal In View Of Obtaining A Matrimonial Relief Under The Hma, 1955?
Namrata A, Jindal Global Law School
ABSTRACT
Consummation of marriage has been a long-time debated issue. Cruelty, under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, has been defined as a ground for judicial separation against a petition for Restitution of Conjugal Rights. The author would like to instil that sexual weakness of either of the spouse in a marital relation that would be a barrier to consummation of marriage would be quite frustrating to the other spouse as a fit marriage includes a healthy physical relationship for intimacy and better understanding and not just for reasons of pleasure. It is a ‘normal’ for a marriage to sustain among other factors. There have been debates that ‘sex’ is not everything that a marital relation holds, but it still is important to the extent that it mentally frustrates the other spouse and still amounts to mental cruelty. Though the core of family law is to hold a marriage intact, sexual weakness according to scientific and social research is still mental cruelty and is not too liberal in view of obtaining a matrimonial relief under the HMA, 1955.
KEYWORDS: Mental Cruelty, Judicial separation, Sexual weakness, HMA 1955, Consummation, Matrimonial Relief.
