Restitution of Conjugal Rights — Working Spouses · 31 January 2026
X v. Y: Wife Living Separately for Her Job Has a 'Reasonable Excuse' Under Section 9 HMA, Jharkhand High Court Holds
High Court of Jharkhand · F.A. No. 274 of 2023
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The parties married in March 2018; the wife was a private school teacher and the husband a daily-wage hospital worker. They lived together for only two to three days before living apart because their workplaces were in different cities. The husband sought restitution of conjugal rights under Section 9 of the Hindu Marriage Act, alleging she left without telling him, took her ornaments, and insisted he live as a 'ghar jamai'. The wife said she was willing to continue the marriage but not to leave her job, and alleged that he and his family demanded ₹10 lakh to buy a vehicle for a side business and that disputes followed her refusal. The husband earned about ₹10,000 a month on contract and the wife about ₹60,000 as a government teacher. The Family Court refused the decree and the husband appealed.
A Division Bench of Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad and Justice Arun Kumar Rai dismissed the appeal. It held that the test under Section 9 is reasonableness, asking which spouse has taken an unreasonable approach to living together, and that neither spouse can claim a superior right over the other. As both were employed in different cities and neither could leave their post, the wife's wish to keep her job while adjusting her married life was not wholly unreasonable. Taking the evidence of the demand for money and a vehicle into account, the Court found she had withdrawn under compulsion of circumstances, and that sustaining the marriage is a joint responsibility.
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