The Marriage Law And The Irretrievable Breakdown Of Marriage

F. THE MARRIAGE LAWS (AMENDMENT) BILL, 2013

Union Cabinet, recently, approved further amendments to the marriage laws enabling a married woman to also get a pre-defined share in her husband’s ancestral property as compensation in cases of divorce.

The decision comes in light of debates on how a woman suffers during times of divorce and it is the responsibility of her first relations to ensure she does not suffer in times of divorce. A wife who has been cohabiting with a man for so long and has been the mother to his children very rightly also deserves a share in whatever he owns. The Hindu dharma revelations also spoke of man and wife as one and thus distinction made in the man’s personally acquired property and that of ancestral property, while deciding the same for the wife during divorce proceedings seems, on the face of it, unfair

As per the bill the wife should get adequate compensation by calculating the husband's share in the event that ancestral property cannot be divided. Thus while calculating, the court must take into account the share of the husband’s ancestral property too.

F.1. DEBATE ON THE BILL

The bill has been termed by the male rights activists as 'Inter Continental Ballistic Missile' (ICBM) Bill for its inclusion of the 'Irretrievable Breakdown of Marriage (IBM)' clause as a valid condition for divorce. As per the Bill, the wife now has a share in both the inherited and inheritable property of the husband post divorce, the exact determination of which has been left to the discretion of the judge hearing the matter. The earlier recommendations to the Act did not cover ancestral property and referred to property that had been acquired during the subsistence of the marriage. As per a new clause 13F, wh...

... middle of paper ...

...n has granted women a legal status in the marriage. An Indian woman, apart from the matrimonial law according to the religious faith and belief, also now is protected under the general statutory law. Accordingly, she is now empowered enough not only to exercise her rights to divorce her husband but also she is in a position to get re-married if and when she so desires after her divorce or after her husband’s death. Further, judgments of the higher courts of India have also tried to ensure due rights to women are given, for instance, the right to maintenance of an adult unmarried daughter under the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 and the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956, without any specific provision of the same under them. All unmarried daughters now have a right to be maintained, even after they attain majority and are unable to maintain themselves .