Dhananjay Mahapatra
June 14, 2010
Relationships between individuals depend largely on trust,respect and love for each other.Matrimonial relationships are more complex,for they involve delicate human and emotional traits coupled with an intrinsic need for adjustment.Amid these complexities,both must also have breathing space to preserve their own individuality.
Realising that these complexities could impact husbandwife relations,the Hindu Marriage Act,1955,had made room for divorce if both or one of them realized that they were caged in a marital bond and it was better to quit than to suffer.
Section 13 of the Act provided a long list of grounds for divorce given the complexities of human nature.One could seek divorce on the following grounds: adultery,conversion from Hinduism to another religion,unsoundness of mind,suffering from venereal or virulent diseases in communicable form for three continuous years,renouncing the world,going missing for seven years or more and no cohabitation for two years.
In addition,it entitled a woman to divorce if the husband was found to be guilty of marrying again or having a wife prior to marriage and if the earlier wife was alive;or he was found guilty of rape,sodomy or bestiality after the solemnisation of marriage.Despite the elaborate grounds,courts in the last two decades came across cases where a couples marriage had fallen apart due to mental cruelty inflicted by one on the other,but they were unable to find a ground to untie the knot.
The Supreme Court for the first time on January 13,1995,in Romesh Chander vs Savitri [1995 (2) SCC 7],posed the question whether a marriage which is otherwise dead emotionally and practically should be continued.
The problem irretrievable breakdown of marriage kept raising its head with frustrating regularity.The irretrievable breakdown of marriage theory was first formulated by the Law Commission of India in its report to the government on April 7,1978,taking into account a twodecade long problem.This means,the Union Cabinet ratified the need to address the problem after its ill-effects on marriage was diagnosed more than 50 years ago.
The commission had said,In case the marriage has ceased to exist in substance and in reality,there is no reason for denying divorce,then the parties alone can decide whether their mutual relationship provides the fulfilment which they seek.
No comments:
Post a Comment