Demanding sex from husband is not cruelty: Allahabad High Court – Times of India

PRAYAGRAJ: A husband or a wife demanding sex of the other does not constitute cruelty, Allahabad H.C he said, dismissing a dowry and torture case filed by his estranged husband against a Noida resident as it was motivated by “sexual incompatibility” between the couple.
“If a man would not demand sexual favors from his wife and vice versa, where will they go to satisfy their physical needs in a morally civilized society?” Judge Anish Kumar Gupta said in an Oct. 3 ruling. He heard a petition filed by the husband, asking to quash the criminal case against him. The dowry case against him – he was also accused of forcing his wife to “unnatural sex” – was pending before a court in Gautam Buddh Nagar.
Justice Gupta cited the FIR and the recorded statement of the complainant to conclude that any assault was not caused by an unmet demand for dowry but by the wife’s refusal to “satisfy the husband’s sexual urges”. “The woman was never injured in any of the events. On the facts of the case, it can be said without any stretch of imagination that it is an offense of cruelty under Section 498A of the IPC. There is no aversion in respect of any specific demand of dowry made by any specific person except general and vague allegations,” Justice Gupta said.
The couple married in 2015, after which the man and his family allegedly demanded a dowry. The man was also accused of assaulting and abusing his wife. When she objected, he tried to strangle her.