Impotency as divorce ground rises article in todays TOI

Dear Swatiji,

TOI,

Mumbai

 

Namaskar.

 

Thanks for a very informative and useful article . I have some humble suggestions:

1. In such articles also take opinion of sexologists and relationship experts. They can throw light on importance and need for physical relationship and intimacy in marital relationships.
2. Interview some litigants that how it really means in marriage to be without physical relationship.
3. Prepare a nice and useful article for those abt to me married/ marriageable age for things to be considered / weighed before entering a marriage to avoid discord and leading to divorce. Divorce has very bad effect on whole family of both sides but specially girls side. If newspapers can create awareness beforehand on several issues then may be many marriages can be avoided and thus divorce can be also avoided.

Alok Tholiya

9324225699

 
 

 

 

Impotency as divorce ground rises

More Couples Citing Sexual Inability As Quick Way To Get Out Of Marriage

Swati Deshpande | TNN

Mumbai: Is impotency on the rise in Mumbai It may seem so,given the rising number of women filing for divorce on grounds that their marriage was never consummated.
Recently,a doctor couple married for four years approached a city lawyer,seeking divorce.The reason: she said he was impotent;the husband,though,claimed he did not feel attracted to her and hence the lack of sex.
There is a definite increase in the number of cases where woman are seeking a divorce or annulment of marriage on the grounds of its non-consummation.Often,we advice them to settle the case mutually, said advocate and veteran womens activist Flavia Agnes.Another lawyer said that at times other reasons are inserted into divorce applications since proving impotency can prove tough.
Young couples barely ten months into their married life are basing their split on grounds of impotency.Recently,a newly married woman was sent back from the US by her husband who wanted to end the marriage.He was just not interest in doing it,she said.
Does that mean the capacity to perform sex constitutes the core of a matrimonial relationship Matrimonial law says it does.According to legal provisions,the physical and mental capacity to consummate a marriage is an essential condition for its validity.
Under the Hindu Marriage Law,impotency is a ground for annulling a marriage.Even under Special Marriage Act,which applies to inter-faith marriages,mere wilful refusal on part of either spouse to have sexual intercourse is reason enough for annulment.
An annulment for non-consummation has to be necessarily within a year from the date of marriage.Lack of sexual contact extending beyond a year has to be cited as mental cruelty,which is a ground for divorce,but cannot make the marriage void.
Divorce lawyer Mrinalini Deshmukh said that,though annulment applications have gone up in Mumbai,at times impotency is used as an excuse by the couple since it is the quickest way out of an unwanted marriage.Just last week,she said,three annulment applications had been filed by women married for less than two months.
Another reason,Agnes said,impotency is often being used in divorce courts is because men are just not attracted to their wives or some times their sexual preferences are different.The recent favourable judgment on consensual same-sex couples is making couples talk more openly about their preferences and they want to end their forced heterosexual relationships, Agnes said.
But while impotency is a ground to end marriage,proving it is a tall order.According to law,impotency may arise on account of a physical defect or mental condition.It says the condition should be should be incurable and the allegation has to be strictly proved.