diff --git a/src/main/perl/lib/IO/Handle.pm b/src/main/perl/lib/IO/Handle.pm
index 9d080861f..5ad204230 100644
--- a/src/main/perl/lib/IO/Handle.pm
+++ b/src/main/perl/lib/IO/Handle.pm
@@ -449,6 +449,13 @@ sub untaint {
     return -1;
 }
 
+# DESTROY method - called when handle is being destroyed
+# In PerlOnJava, this is called by JVM garbage collector
+sub DESTROY {
+    # Empty DESTROY is fine - the actual cleanup happens in Java
+    # This just needs to exist so FileHandle can import it
+}
+
 1;
 
 __END__