Refusal to sex after 16 years of marriage is not cruelty.

Refusal of conjugal rights (sexual intercourse) by wife after 16 years of marriage cannot be construed as cruelty, said the Madras high court dismissing a petition by a man from Erode who moved the court seeking the divorce, alleging matrimonial cruelty by his wife. The court also chided the man for refusing to gratefully acknowledge the changes associated with ageing and challenges which life exposes.

A man from Erode filed a petition with the Madras High Court, asking for a divorce after his wife denied sexual intercourse to him. The court, however, rejected his plea & construed that the refusal of sexual intercourse after 16 years of marriage cannot be called cruelty.