A lot of discussion is going around now a days based on the the introduction of the new marriage law. This post is my attempt to understand what it is all about and give my perspective on the same.
To start with marriages of hindus are registered under The Hindu Marriage Act of 1955 . Under this act the reasons for divorce could be one of the following: -
1) Sexual Intercourse with a person other than their partner
2) Cruelty
3) A partner deserting the other for at least 2 years
4) Change in religion
5) Mental Disorder
6) Renunciation of world under some religious practice
7) Partner not found alive for 7 years
8) Mutual Consent: Both parties are not living together for at least one year and agree that marriage should be dissolved.
The latest news in is that "Irretrievable Breakdown of Marriage" is approved by cabinet as a reason to grant divorce. Legally is means is that if both husband and wife agree that they are not willing to live together and there is no scope of their reconciliation then they can be granted divorce.
In simple terms in means that if one of husband or wife refuses to live together under any circumstances and there is not chance that he/she may support the marriage in the future then divorce can be granted. e.g. if wife in a marriage decides to desert the husband and refuses to live or support the marriage then the couple can be granted divorce because both husband and wife in this case cannot benefit from such a marriage.
Stating another example, sometime back a person filed for divorce stating that his wife was a source of constant quarrel in their home and was found to have affair with another person. In the court the wife also proved that her husband had a mistress. After reviewing such situation divorce was granted to the couple because court concluded that marriage was broken to such an extent that there is no point continuing it.
My Perspective:
According to me this makes divorce really easy and hence this privilege can be exploited. To express in more detail this gives power to both the partners to end the marriage whenever they want to. In case any of the partners realize that other partner would not like to have divorce the previous party would start blackmailing.
I feel our society does not accept divorce with as open mind as the western societies do. It is still a matter of shame for both families if the marriage results in divorce and it ruins the future prospects of marriage of both sides equally. This social pressure works fine till the time that both husband and wife experience it equally. In case one of them does not care about it then he/she becomes empowered to take advantage of the other person.
I am not saying that all cases will lead to this. There are some genuine cases that would be solved by this new amendment. All I am saying is that to me the repercussions outweigh the benefits.
Open to discussion on the same...
