MADURAI: Can a man seek divorce on the ground that his wife has a sexually transmitted disease (STD), watches porn and masturbates? The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court answered in the negative.

Dismissing the appeals filed by the husband against lower court orders that denied divorce to him, a bench comprising Justices GR Swaminathan and R Poornima observed on Wednesday that a woman’s individuality and sexual autonomy is not subsumed by her spousal status. “When masturbation among men is acknowledged to be universal, masturbation by women cannot be stigmatised,” the judges said.

Moreover, indulging in self-pleasure cannot be a cause for dissolution of marriage and definitely cannot be termed cruelty against husband. It has not been established that the conjugal relationship between the spouses would suffer if the wife has the habit of masturbation, the judges said.

Similarly, watching porn (other than the statutorily prohibited type) in a private setting does not constitute an offence, the court opined. While watching porn or addiction to porn may affect the viewer in the long run, it would not amount to treating the other spouse cruelly, unless it includes any additional act, like one compelling the other to join him or her, the judges reasoned.

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