Delhi High Court has given a decision on Wednesday which has made the life of lakhs of couples easier. The court clearly said that it is not necessary for the husband and wife to live separately for a year to get a mutual divorce. This old condition will no longer apply in every case!
Creating unwanted relationship is equivalent to cruelty
The court says that when both the parties agree to divorce then it is wrong to forcefully keep them in a broken relationship. This gives nothing but mental and emotional stress to both of them. The three-judge bench of Justice Naveen Chawla, Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani and Justice Renu Bhatnagar said this important thing.
Exemption may be given under section of Hindu Marriage Act
There is a condition of living separately for one year in Section 13B(1) of the Hindu Marriage Act-1955, but the court called it only “suggestive”, i.e. not necessary. Under special circumstances it can be completely waived. The court raised the question – Should the court stop the divorce even if both of them agree and push them into marital hell instead of marital happiness?
Supreme Court decisions opened the way
The bench cited several previous decisions of the Supreme Court and said that under Section 14(1), the court has full power to waive the waiting period if “extraordinary hardship” or “extraordinary misconduct” is proved. The court accepted that mutual consent means that something has definitely gone wrong in the relationship.
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