New Delhi, June 3 -- The Supreme Court has observed that allowing matrimonial disputes to remain unresolved for years serves only to keep a marriage alive on paper, as it dissolved the marriage of a couple who had been living apart for over 15 years.

The court noted that the Rajasthan High Court had earlier granted a divorce to the husband on multiple grounds, including allegations of cruelty by the wife. Among the factors considered was the wife's repeated denial of sexual relations, which the High Court held amounted to mental cruelty.

"The courts in India have repeatedly established that withholding sexual intimacy inflicts severe emotional distress and undermines the bedrock of marriage," a bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and Augusti...