After the groundbreaking verdict of the Supreme Court saying a wife cannot force her husband to separate from his family, the Delhi High Court has now delivered another such historical verdict in favor of husbands.

Responding to the petition of a man seeking divorce from his wife complaining that his wife had not participated in sex with him for four-and-a-half-years, the Delhi High Court has said that denying sex to spouse for such a long time without proper justification amounts to mental cruelty and added that the husband can divorce his wife. The Delhi high court also pointed out that his wife had resorted to denial of sex even though she was not suffering from any physical ailment.

The husband had told the court that he was married in 2001 and after having two children his wife developed aversion to sex and didn’t allow him to indulge in the activity for as long as five years. He finally filed for divorce in a trial court in 2013 but the court dismissed his divorce petition. He then challenged the trial court’s order and got the verdict in his favor in the high court.

In its judgment, the High Court bench stated that denial of sex to spouse amounts to mental cruelty and it is reason enough for divorce.