Xinhua News Agency (05.04.12) - Friday, May 04, 2012
A wife's refusal to have sex with her husband without a condom
does not constitute grounds for divorce, the High Court in
Mumbai has ruled. In his divorce petition, Pradeep Bapat said
his wife refused to have unprotected sex with him, saying she
did not want to have children because the couple was not
financially stable. A two-judge panel rejected his plea and
said his other grounds for legal separation, that his wife
lacked cooking and cleaning skills, could not be grounds for
divorce. "She wanted to give the child a better life. It is a
mutual decision, and a husband cannot insist," Justice P.B.
Majmudar said, according to the Times of India. Noting that "a
woman is not a slave," the court said couples should get to
know each other before marrying, especially in cases of
arranged marriages.