Indian society was introduced to the concept of divorce with the advent of the Hin

du Marriage Act (HMA) in 1955. The HMA was introduced to enable women who could
not tolerate marriage to legally liberate themselves from wedlock.
Accordingly, the Act enumerates circumstances in which a marriage can be legally
broken but does not explain what marriage means nor does it enumerate the respo
nsibilities of a wife and husband towards themselves, each other, their children
, both sides of the family or the society.
The most common grounds for divorce cruelty, desertion, impotence, adultery etc.
are not only poorly defined, but are also difficult to prove. Nevertheless, giv
en that a divorce cannot be initiated by a spouse in any other manner, he/she is
forced to make a variety of allegations on his/her partner to justify divorce u
nder any one or a combination of the above mentioned grounds for divorce.
Scores of cases are also filed by wives every year under Sections 498A of IPC, D
omestic Violence Act, Dowry Prohibition Act, and related civil and criminal laws
to strengthen their divorce cases, to alienate children from their biological f
athers, and to extract huge amounts of money as alimony and maintenance from hus
bands.
Given that these grounds for divorce require the petitioner spouse to make the w
orst kind of allegations which only end up antagonizing his/her partner, it is n
ot surprising that counter allegations follow and over time, even the slightest
possibility of reconciliation is destroyed. Marriages which could otherwise have
been saved break down irretrievably and end up in divorce. It is no wonder the
Supreme Court of India observed that the Hindu Marriage Act has broken more fami
lies than it has united.
It is also a fact that Indian society has still not accepted divorce as a respec
table option in life. As a result, women who appear to be relatively more sensit
ive to public disapproval, feel constrained to make allegations of cruelty, dowr
y harassment, desertion and other serious accusations against husbands and their
families when, in reality, they have unilaterally made the decision to end thei
r marriage for various reasons which may or may not be valid or acceptable accor
ding to the society, or their respective peer groups
Complicating the issue further, the Indian judiciary has taken up the grand agen
da of saving marriages. Courts take years to grant divorce in the hope that some
how, a husband and wife will reconcile and reunite after exchanging vicious allegati
ons against each other and after turning into bitter enemies who cannot stand to
even see each other. The cases are dragged over many years, ignoring the natura
l physical, psychological and biological needs of young men and women, and cause
irreparable damage to their individual lives.
The dilemma facing us is that the Indian society and the agenda of the Courts ar
e in direct conflict with the Hindu Marriage Act, and instead of enabling women
to free themselves from wedlock they end up trapping both men and women in a dea
dlock.
The trauma of false allegations, criminal cases, separation from children and th
e burden of paying huge amounts of money as maintenance are making men so misera
ble that thousands of men are ending their own lives every year. Recently, incid
ents of husbands murdering their spouses are also becoming commonplace.
There are also a growing number of women who realize a little too late that they
have made a mistake or have been misled, but cannot go back and restore their m
arriage after it has been irretrievably broken by the legal machinery. Owing to
delays in obtaining divorce they are unable to move on, are forced to remain sin
gle and are often exploited due to their emotional vulnerability.
The Law Commission has repeatedly made recommendations to make irretrievable bre
akdown of marriage a ground for divorce, and the Supreme Court of India has pass
ed quite a few judgments to set legal precedents in this matter. Many ordinary c
itizens have been denied divorce even after 15 years of bitter legal battles. Ho
wever, it was not until a Union Cabinet Minister s daughter was denied divorce tha
t the Cabinet decided it was time to make amendments to Indian Marriage (read Div
orce ) laws.
Do we welcome the amendment introducing a new long-awaited ground for divorce?
Irretrievable breakdown of marriage as a ground for divorce would be a welcome c
hange if and only if it will put an end to
the toxic culture of making baseless and false allegations of abuse and cruelty t
o obtain divorce.
the mindless practice of painting fathers as abusive and unfit parents and separa
ting them from children.
the business of daylight robbery in the name of alimony and maintenance to the wi
fe.
the custom of prolonged legal battles which end up destroying the lives of men, w
omen and children.
Most importantly, the amendments should not send out a wrong message that divorc
e is now going to be easy and open floodgates for soaring divorce rates