Mixed response for giving time to get divorce under provisions of Hindu Marriage Act 1955
Ferozepur, September 16, 2017: There had been mixed response during the random survey by the Babushahi.com team, to get views about getting divorce instantly from the court or giving six months time to make up mind or to give a second thought, as per provision of the Hindu Marriage Act 1955.
The intervention of Supreme Court in an important judgement of martial dispute case has opined that in case there is a mutual consent for getting divorce and there is no scope for rehabilitation, then immediate divorce is possible despite provision of six months time in Hindu Marriage Act 1955 for ongoing dispute between the married couple.
While one section of the society – Kulbhushan Gautam, Ashwani Sharama, Ashok Gupta, Inder Singh Gogia, Diwan Chand Sukhija – say that the couple in the event of any family dispute must be given the time to give a second thought for getting divorce especially they are married for number of years and have grown up children.
The other category of people – Jatinder Singh, Dr.Mahesh Malethia, Anita Sikri, Pankaj Kumar – are of the view that it is wastage of time and money in litigation for prolonging the divorce in the court of law by giving them a time.
While the counseling cell at Women Police Station is already working in the city for the last 17 years with contribution of local citizens by giving sufficient time throughout the week to do counseling of the couples and the success rate is around 80 per cent for uniting them, another committee has also been formed by the District and Sessions Judge as per the directions of the High Court to refer the cases of Section 498-A to give its report before taking any final decision by the court.
Section 498-A reads as : Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty.—Whoever, being the husband or the relative of the husband of a woman, subjects such woman to cruelty shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and shall also be liable to fine.
When talked to one of the member of Counseling Cell at Women Police Station, S.P.Khera – a retired officer from Life Insurance Corporation of India and President, Petrol Pump Association – who is extending his services for counseling of the couples more than a decade – said, in the event of any dispute, immediate divorce is not the remedy, sufficient time be given to re-think over the instant decision keeping in view the long term consequences especially where the kids are involved.
He said, there is a good response for rehabilitation after counseling to the extent of 80 per cent of the referred cases. However, the priority of martial dispute has totally changed and dowry and harassment are at the tail while ego, misunderstanding, extra marital relations, suspicious nature, keeping mobile, addiction, property dispute and interference of parents of both the sides.
