The Channel 46
Laws relating to divorce fall in the realm of personal laws in India. These laws are different depending on one’s religion. Before anyone cries out foul and cites secularism here, it is important to understand that laws religious scriptures have had a huge contribution in our personal laws and even today, a great amount of Muslim law is not codified and recourse is made to religious scriptures in order to determine rights of individuals.
To begin a conversation on divorce, one must start with the grounds for the same. The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 lays down the grounds on which one can seek divorce. These are: – When the other spouse has, after the solemnisation of the marriage, had voluntary sexual intercourse with any person other than his or her spouse; or -
– has, after the solemnization of the marriage, treated the petitioner with cruelty; or – has deserted the petitioner for a continuous period of not less than two years immediately preceding the presentation of the petition; or – has ceased to be a Hindu by conversion to another religion; or – has been incurably of unsound mind, or has been suffering continuously or intermittently from mental disorder of such a kind and to such an extent that the petitioner cannot reasonably be expected to live with the respondent; or – has been suffering from venereal disease in a communicable form; or – has renounced the world by entering any religious order; or
– Status of the parties; – Reasonable wants of the claimant; – The independent income and property of the claimant; – The number of persons, the non-applicant has to maintain; – The amount should aid the applicant to live in a similar lifestyle as he/she enjoyed in the matrimonial home;
These are all illustrative examples and not exhaustive. Maintenance laws are gender neutral and either spouse may be required to pay maintenance to the other spouse. However, one would be hard-pressed to find instances in our country where a wife was required to pay maintenance to her husband. It would be incorrect, however, to say that is not the intention of the law.
The Channel 46