I hate this term: restitution of conjugal rights,” says Pooja Janak emphatically. “It’s because of this provision that my divorce case dragged on for five long years. The point is this—I decide who I want to stay with, and have conjugal relations with—who is the court to compel me to co-habit with someone I choose not to be with?” 
Janak, 35, chose to part from her husband of two years after what she alleges was a relationship fraught with emotional and mental abuse. While her partner chose to play down the problems in the marriage, his lawyers used the provision to nudge her back into staying with him under the same roof. “He was using this provision in the law to keep me from moving on,” she adds about the partnership that finally ended in 2018. 

The law on restitution of conjugal rights allows a spouse to move court to compel the other spouse to cohabit, or face forfeiture of any property. Section 9 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, states that if either of the spouses withdraws themselves from the society of the other, without reasonable excuse, the other party, which is aggrieved has a legal right of filing a petition demanding for the restitution of conjugal rights. The court must be satisfied that there is no real ground to refuse the petitioner, and could file a decree for restitution of conjugal rights.