Critical Analysis of Divorce by Mutual Consent

A marriage could be understood as a legal sanctity that leads to the union of two souls. It is a responsibility undertaken by the spouses to attain happiness and perform the societal obligations. The same is widely known as a sacrament and sometimes as a civil contract between the parties. Even though there exist some discrepancies regarding the perspective of marriage among people, the common objective of the same, being fulfilment of obligations, remains the same. For situations where it becomes impossible for the parties to fulfil these obligations or stay in the marriage, different grounds have been set up by the courts in India in order to bring a marriage to an end, divorce by mutual consent being one of them. Mutual consent as a method of dissolving a marriage is one of the most civil ways to end a marriage. Upon realisation that the wife and the husband can not live together, they can mutually agree to dissolve the marriage with the help of this provision. Divorce by mutual consent could be found under different legislations in India i.e, The Hindu marriage act, 1955, the Special Marriage Act, 1954, the Dissolution of Marriage Act, 1939, The Muslim Women Protection of Rights on Divorce Act, 1986, the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1936, and the Divorce Act, 1869. The author in the present paper strives to explain to its readers the concept of dissolution of marriage by mutual consent pertaining to the Hindu law and the Muslim law. The paper has further laid down the various essentials of divorce by mutual consent and exceptions to those essentials under Hindu Law.