Divorce Grounds

       As per our Hindu Marriage Act,1955 grounds on which couple can file application for divorce are –

• Adultery – The act of indulging in any kind of sexual relationship including intercourse outside marriage is termed as adultery. Adultery is counted as a criminal offence and substantial proofs are required to establish it. An amendment to the law in 1976 states that one single act of adultery is enough for the petitioner to get a divorce.
• Cruelty – A spouse can file a divorce case when he/she is subjected to any kind of mental and physical injury that causes danger to life, limb and health. The intangible acts of cruelty through mental torture are not judged upon one single act but series of incidents. Certain instances like the food being denied, continuous ill treatment and abuses to acquire dowry, perverse sexual act and such are included under cruelty.
• Desertion – If one of the spouses voluntarily abandons his/her partner for at least a period of two years, the abandoned spouse can file a divorce case on the ground of desertion.
• Conversion – Incase either of the two converts himself/herself into another religion, the other spouse may file a divorce case based on this ground.
• Mental Disorder – Mental disorder can become a ground for filing a divorce if the spouse of the petitioner suffers from incurable mental disorder and insanity and therefore cannot be expected from the couple to stay together.
• Leprosy – In case of a ‘virulent and incurable’ form of leprosy, a petition can be filed by the other spouse based on this ground.
• Venereal Disease – If one of the spouses is suffering from a serious disease that is easily communicable, a divorce can be filed by the other spouse. The sexually transmitted diseases like AIDS are accounted to be venereal diseases.
• Renunciation – A spouse is entitled to file for a divorce if the other renounces all worldly affairs by embracing a religious order.
• Not Heard Alive – If a person is not seen or heard alive by those who are expected to be ‘naturally heard’ of the person for a continuous period of seven years, the person is presumed to be dead. The other spouse should need to file a divorce if he/she is interested in remarriage.
• No Resumption of Co-habitation – It becomes a ground for divorce if the couple fails to resume their co-habitation after the court has passed a decree of separation.

The following are the grounds for divorce in India on which a petition can be filed only by the wife-

• If the husband has indulged in rape, bestiality and sodomy.
• If the marriage is solemnized before the Hindu Marriage Act and the husband has again married another woman in spite of the first wife being alive, the first wife can seek for a divorce.
• A girl is entitled to file for a divorce if she was married before the age of fifteen and renounces the marriage before she attains eighteen years of age.
• If there is no co-habitation for one year and the husband neglects the judgment of maintenance awarded to the wife by the court, the wife can contest for a divorce.

but it often seen sometimes differences or rift between couple is not so much intensive or intolerable that it become ground for court to grant them divorce decree thus at every level of justice there divorce case rejected, it not only help couple to remain united and end there differences but also teach them lesson that even there arguments are not genuine grounds for divorce even in the eyes of justice. Below is example of couple who get there divorce application rejected by every level of court of country –

• Couple of Amritsar married in the decade of seventies, but there differences make them to live without harmony, despite having a kid. Result of this husband file divorce application in the session court, but hearing both sides stories court not found firm ground to grant them divorce decree as husband’s allegations was her wife abuse, demanding separate house and also went in her parents house to live, while in response to her husband’s allegations she accused her husband as cruel, greedy, demanding dowry, after drinking he misbehave. Then husband move to high court where high court also rejected his divorce application and declared it as not a solid ground on behalf of it court can’t grant couple divorce decree. Husband then file divorce case in the Supreme Court of country. Supreme Court considering a former verdict on to the case, three judges bench issue directives to consider the case again, but in supreme court also because of his weak arguments, proves and evidence court rejected his divorce application, despite he try one more move by declaring that they are living separate from score of years, so there is not possibilities that they can live together but this again rejected by court.

Above coded story tells us that any couple try to separate on small baseless issues’ even Indian justice not consider it valid point for divorce decree, more over its our moral liabilities to contemplate before moving to court if they need divorce because they can’t live together or it’s the ego or small issues which are forcing them to go for divorce decree which even can be resolve with understanding.