RS okays bill to make divorce friendly for women passed

Rajya Sabha on Monday approved a proposal to make divorce friendly for women as it provides for the wife getting share in the husband’s immovable property after ‘irretrievable breakdown’ of marriage.

The Marriage Laws (Amendment) Bill seeks to empower the courts to decide the compensation amount from the husband’s inherited and inheritable property for the wife and children once the marriage legally ends. The Bill allows both parties to file for divorce on the ground of ‘irretrievable breakdown’ of marriage. Both parties have to live apart for at least three years before filing for such a petition.

Provisions have been made to restrict grant of a decree of divorce on ground of ‘irretrievable breakdown’ of marriage if the court is satisfied that adequate provision for maintenance of children has not been made consistently with financial capacity of the parties to the marriage.

Also, the wife has the right to oppose the grant of a divorce on the ground that the dissolution could result in grave financial hardship. Law minister Kapil Sibal said it is a ‘a historic peace of legislation’ in a patriarchal society like India where women own only two per cent of the assets’.