Divorce laws in India are governed by several different statutes, depending on the religion of the spouses. The following are the main divorce laws in India:
- Cruelty
- Desertion
- Unsound mind
- Venereal disease
- Repudiation of conversion
- Irretrievable breakdown of marriage
Indian
Divorce Act, 1869: This law governs divorce for Christian couples. A Christian
couple can obtain a divorce on the following grounds:
- Cruelty
- Desertion
- Insanity
- Impotence
- Irretrievable breakdown of marriage
Dissolution
of Muslim Marriage Act, 1939: This law governs divorce for Muslim couples. A
Muslim woman can obtain a divorce on the following grounds:
- Her husband has failed to provide for her maintenance
- Her husband is impotent
- Her husband has physically or mentally abused her
- A Muslim man can obtain a divorce by pronouncing talaq (divorce) three times to his wife.
In 2019, the Indian Parliament passed the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, which criminalized the practice of talaq-e-biddat, or instant triple talaq. The law makes it a punishable offense for a Muslim man to divorce his wife by pronouncing talaq three times in any form.)
New
Divorce Rules in India 2023
Reduced
waiting period: The waiting period for a mutual consent divorce has been
reduced from one year to six months.
Timeframe
for the divorce process: The entire divorce process, from the time of application
to the divorce being granted, must now be completed within 20 weeks.
The
new divorce rules are a welcome change for couples who are seeking to end their
marriages. They make the process of divorce less time-consuming and less
stressful.