MP High Court Rejects Husband’s Plea Seeking Wife’s Virginity Test in Divorce Case

The Madhya Pradesh High Court dismissed a husband’s request to subject his wife to a medical examination in a divorce matter.

The case arose from a divorce petition filed before a family court, where the husband alleged cruelty on the ground that the wife refused to engage in sexual relations with him. The Court observed that the application was, in substance, a demand for a virginity test and would result in invasion of privacy and humiliation.

The Court further held that refusal to engage in sexual relations does not constitute an independent ground for divorce under the Hindu Marriage Act and that medical examination was not necessary to decide the dispute. 

The husband was permitted to rely on other evidence.

[Bhupendra Kushwaha v. Smt. Priyanshi Kushwaha]