Divorces carried out in India are generally a lot more complex than, for instance, American or Muslim divorces. This is mainly because they need to account for all the different religions that are present in India, despite the fact that 80.5% of the Indian population are Hindu. India is renowned for keeping all of its religions equal, regardless of their numbers.
To simplify the legislation for divorce in India, each religion follows a specific divorce act. Hindus follow the Hindu divorce act of 1955, Christians follow the Indian divorce act of 1869, Muslims follow the dissolution of Muslim marriages act of 1939, Parsi follow the Parsi marriage and divorce act of 1936 and those in civil marriage follow the special marriage act of 1956.
Indian Law
Indian law as separate legislation is also taken into account for any divorce being processed in the country. It recognizes five main states of marriage as legitimate grounds for divorce. These states are:
Adultery: Cheating on a spouse is a reasonable ground for divorce in India, although men tend to be treated more nicely in an Indian court of law than women if they are accused of adultery.
Impotence: An inability or refusal to consummate a marriage is a legitimate ground for divorce in India. If one party enters a marriage without knowing that their spouse is sterile, this is also grounds for divorce.
Desertion: If couples can prove that they have not lived together for at least three years then desertion can be used as a ground for divorce. However, they must also be able to prove that they are not planning to continue living together after the divorce has been finalized.
Chronic Disease: Whether mental or physical, chronic disease is a legitimate reason for divorcing someone in India. Unlike several other religions and countries, ‘chronic disease’ also encompasses sexuality transmitted disease.
Cruelty: Whether physical abuse, emotional blackmail, or anything in between, a divorce can be sought in India for cruelty. However, the lines that separate cruelty and a safe marriage are different between men and women, just as they are for adultery.
In India it is often seen as shameful to divorce and once a woman returns to her biological family she is often not very well respected. Life for divorced people (both men and women, but especially women) is hard, because Indian society is not accepting. For this reason the Indian government may grant a divorced woman financial help, or assistance in finding a place to live.
History of Indian Divorce
At one point in history divorce didn’t even exist in the Hindu faith. This meant that a marriage breakdown was handled simply by separation or desertion and was never finalized legally: the couple would remain married until death. Men were allowed to leave their wives at this time, but a woman could never leave her husband and had to live in the marital home.
Before 1997, Christian women living in India would also have to prove in a court of law that their husband had committed adultery, or treated them cruelly in order to be divorced from them.