WHAT IS DIVORCE?

In the ancient times, there was no concept of Divorce in Hindu Marriages and once marriage solemnized between the male and female, it could not be broken down by either of the spouse and marriage runs up to the death of the parties .Since inception of Hindu marriage concept, Marriage is a religious sacrament and it was considered to an act of GOD which was not allowed to be broken by the married couple and was carried till last breath. The object behind it was that having regard to the High ideals which the Hindu community has always lived up to, Divorce should not be made easy and the law should be so framed as to provide the maximum opportunities for mutual adjustment But after enactment of the Hindu Marriage Act 1955 the concept about the marriage and its spirit has been changed as mainly, the Hindu Marriage Act 1955 allowed dissolution of marriage and judicial separation under the order of the court. Under section 10 of HMA 1955 it is prescribed that either spouse can seek judicial separation and under section 13 of HMA it is prescribed that either spouse can seek Divorce on the ground mentioned under section 13 of HMA 1955. Having provided, a law for dissolution of Hindu Marriage, even then it is very difficult to get a divorce on the grounds mentions in the section 13 of HMA 1955 unless both partners give their consent .If one partner objects, the other spouse has to prove allegations on the ground under which he or she wants divorce which in practical is very difficult to prove as it takes years to culminate the trial. Further if one party succeed in the trial court other party who is aggrieved from the judgements can go in appeal which again takes time and in this legal battle both parties almost spent their golden time in legal fights. Before the apex Court few cases come in light where parties were indulged in legal fight for 20 to 30 years or more. One more legal aspect which is more important and need to be discussed here is “whether Irretrievable breakdown of Marriage” is a legal ground under the Hindu marriage Act 1955?. Meaning thereby when a marriage is totally unworkable, emotionally dead, beyond salvage and has broken down irretrievably, can a distressed person to the marriage seek dissolution of his/her marriage on this ground? The answer is no but it established that the Supreme Court under its extra ordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution of India can dissolved the marriage on the ground of “Irretrievable breakdown of marriage”.