HINDU LAW

                                          

                                       DIVORCE AND IT'S REASONS

                (You can fire your secretary, divorce your spouse, abandon your children. But they remain your co-authors forever  - Ellen Goodman).  

The notion of divorce was not known to anybody in ancient times. Love was seen by them as a sacred concept. According to Manu, they cannot separate husband and wife from each other, their martial tie cannot be broken. The concept of divorce later came into the picture and was established as a custom to bring the marriage to an end.

Divorce implies that marital relations are terminated. It means the marital bond's dissolution. Divorce means, legally speaking, a declaration of marital dissolution. Divorce is a mechanism by which, as per rule, marital relations cease to exist and the couple can no longer be named the husband or the wife. Divorces bring the marriage to an end.

In the modern India definition of divorce, it ceases the entire husband and wife's joint responsibility, and they are free to go there on the way. This leads to the end of all ties between them.

One of the significant reasons why the divorce rate is so high is a poor marriage. Marriages don't always turn out to be blissful and happy. Conflicts happen, things can go wrong, and a marriage can be turned into a poor one by missed expectations. Most people agree that a poor marriage has a lot of ways to repair it. However, sometimes, no matter how hard people try, things just don't work out.

Marriages, however, have faced a lot of difficulties in recent years due to various misunderstandings between the couple or inability to understand what a marriage needs either person to do. Therefore, as the only way out of the issues facing marriages, divorce has become a common occurrence for many individuals.

DIVORCE ACCORDING TO THE HINDU MARRIAGE ACT 1955:

There are some provisions for a legal divorce in the Hindu Marriage Act, i.e. when the partner may get divorce or appeal in the court of law for dissolution of marriage.

 The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, lays down the rule that applies to Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, and Sikhs for divorce.

The grounds for divorce pursuant to Section 13 of the Act include.

1. That the partner after the marriage had consensual sexual intercourse with some other male.

2. That the spouse treated the spouse of the complainant with Cruelty.

3. That the spouse has left the spouse of the plaintiff for no less than two years (continuously) prior to the filing of the divorce suit.

4. If one of the two converts into another religion, the other spouse will file a divorce case on this basis.

5. If the partner of the plaintiff suffers from incurable mental illness and insanity, mental disorder may become a basis for filing a divorce and can thus not be forced to remain together by the couple.

6. That the spouse has been suffering from virulent and incurable leprosy.

7. That the spouse has been suffering from a contagious venereal disease.

8. That the spouse has renounced the world and has entered the spiritual world.

9. That the spouse has been unheard for a period of seven years or more by persons who have naturally heard of it, had that party been alive.                                                                 

WIFE'S SPECIAL DIVORCE GROUNDS: 

In addition to the reasons mentioned above, under 13(2) of this Act, a wife has been granted four additional grounds for divorce. Those are like the following:

1. Polygamous Marriage Pre-Act - This provision specifies the basis for divorce as, that the husband has another wife, alive at the moment of the petitioner's solemnization of marriage.

2. That the husband has been charged with rape, sodomy or bestiality after the union.

3. Before reaching the age of 15 years, the bride's marriage was solemnized and she repudiated the marriage after reaching that age, but before reaching the age of 18 years.

CONCEPT OF MUTUAL CONSENT DIVORCE:

 As per Section 13B, the individual can, by mutual consent of both parties, file a petition for divorce. If the parties agree to end their marriage on the basis of mutual consent, they must wait one year from the date of the marriage. They have to explain that for one or more years they live separately and are not able to live with each other.

No Divorce petition within one year of marriage No Court shall hear a petition for divorce within one year of marriage pursuant to Section 14. But where the matter is linked to bigamy, and if the spouse's consent was taken by misrepresentation, deceit, undue control, etc., can be entertained.

Jaisinghbhai shah V/S Prabhawati bipin Chander:

The respondent leaves the house in this instance with the intention of leaving his wife. The wife later informed the court, but the defendant proved that when he left the house with the intention of deserting, he attempted to return and the petitioner stopped him from doing so. The defendant cannot be held accountable for desertion here.