Archive · 2 Oct 2026
Madras High Court Says Infertility Alone Cannot Constitute Matrimonial Cruelty
The Madras High Court considered a husband’s request for a divorce.
He said his wife had mistreated him and abandoned their home.
His wife denied this and said she had undergone medical treatment to try to have a child.
The court said being unable to have children is not automatically the wife’s fault.
It also said marriage is not only about having children.
Fertility treatment can be physically and emotionally difficult, especially for the woman undergoing it.
The judges found that the husband’s allegations were not sufficiently proven.
They therefore upheld the decision not to grant a divorce.
The Madras High Court ruled that childlessness alone cannot amount to cruelty or justify divorce.
The court dismissed a husband’s appeal after a family court rejected his cruelty-based divorce petition.
The husband alleged humiliation, assault, suspicion, abandonment and refusal of matrimonial companionship by his wife.
The wife denied the allegations and said she underwent surgery and fertility treatment to conceive and preserve the marriage.
The court said prolonged separation and unproved allegations were insufficient to establish cruelty or irretrievable marital breakdown.
- Who
- A husband and wife, and a Division Bench of Justices GR Swaminathan and MD Sumathi.
- What
- The Madras High Court dismissed the husband’s appeal seeking divorce on grounds of cruelty.
- When
- The couple married in June 2007; the alleged assault was said to have occurred in June 2016.
- Where
- The case was decided by the Madras High Court after proceedings in a family court.
- Why
- The court found that childlessness, prolonged separation and unproved allegations did not establish matrimonial cruelty.
Husband’s allegations
Wife’s response and court findings
Alleged matrimonial cruelty
Husband’s allegations
The husband alleged that his wife humiliated him, suspected him, left the matrimonial home, refused matrimonial companionship, and assaulted him.
Wife’s response and court findings
The wife denied the allegations, and the court found that the claims of assault, humiliation and abandonment were not satisfactorily proved.
Childlessness and fertility treatment
Husband’s allegations
The husband pursued divorce while the couple remained unable to conceive.
Wife’s response and court findings
The wife said she underwent surgery and fertility treatment to have a child and preserve the marriage; the court said childlessness alone cannot amount to cruelty.
Separation and marital breakdown
Husband’s allegations
The husband argued that prolonged separation supported divorce and demonstrated cruelty or irretrievable breakdown.
Wife’s response and court findings
The court rejected that argument, noting that the wife continued to express willingness to resume matrimonial life.
- Court
- Madras High Court
- Bench
- Justices GR Swaminathan and MD Sumathi
- Marriage
- The couple married in June 2007.
- Husband’s claim
- He sought divorce on the ground of cruelty.
- Wife’s treatment
- She underwent surgery for a uterine fibroid and fertility treatment.
- Court’s ruling
- The appeal was dismissed and the family court’s decision was upheld.
- Key principle
- A spouse’s inability to conceive cannot by itself be treated as cruelty.