A married couple is entitled to conjugal rights even if they have never lived together.
A married couple is entitled to conjugal rights even if they have never lived together. In a judgment passed earlier this month, Bombay High Court upheld the order of the family court that asked a husband to pay his wife maintenance of Rs3,000 per month even though they had not lived together even for a day after their marriage on December 11, 2003.
Lonavala-based Annie Varghese, 37, married Kerela-based Jinu Philip, 31, under the Special Marriage Act, 1954 in Pune. However, immediately after the marriage, Jinu left for Abu Dhabi, UAE, where he worked. He never told his parents about his marriage.
Though Jinu had promised to take her to UAE as soon as he got a better job, till May 21, 2005, the couple only interacted over the phone. Even when Jinu came to Chennai on May 28, 2005, he left three weeks later without meeting Annie. He told her that he would now return only in January 2007.
However, on January 3, 2007, Jinu informed Annie that succumbing to the pressure from his parents he had married Beena Varghese on May 30, 2005 and even had a daughter with her.
Annie alleged that after Jinu’s parents found out about their marriage, his family threatened her to accept a settlement amount and demanded that she separate from him. Even Jinu started to force her for a divorce.
Annie finally moved the family court in Pune last year seeking restitution of her conjugal rights under section 22 of the act.
The court allowed her application and ordered Jinu to pay her maintenance. However, in his appeal against, Jinu contended that there was no question of restitution of conjugal rights as the marriage was never consummated. He also said that theirs was an “irretrievable breakdown” of marriage.
Justice Ranjana Desai and Justice RP Sondur-Baldota, however, discarded his contention as a “false story to wriggle out of the marriage.” They were of the view, “Since conjugal rights are inherent in a marriage, and obligation of the husband and wife to live together begins from day one of the marriage, if one spouse refuses to live with the other from day one, he or she must be held to have withdrawn from the obligation to give the other the benefit or pleasure of his or her society. Therefore, even if they do not live together or the marriage is not consummated; a decree for restitution of conjugal rights can be passed.”
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