Divorce: Laws and the Position of Women in Indian Society

Hariom Kr poddar
Indian Institute of Legal Studies, Siliguri, Darjeeling (WB), India

Volume III, Issue IV, 2020

India is a country where Women are worshipped as goddesses since ancient era as per the Hindu beliefs. People of all religions have different views regarding Marriage, Divorce, Maintenance and Adoptions. In earlier days, people used to follow the concept of “SATI” where alive woman was burnt along with their dead husband. But today India is also not unaware of the concepts of LGBTQ marriages, inter-cast marriages and even live-in relationships. Marriage is very important stage of any woman’s life and if she does not get a perfect match, she feels cheated in life. She cannot even express her feelings out because of the fear of Society. Divorce and marriage are subjected to personal laws in India and also every individual can freely practice, profess and propagate any religions under Article 25 of the Constitution of India. The person who doesn’t believe in any religions has Special Marriage Act, 1954.[1]  Today if any of the spouses wants to separate out from marriage they need to take court permissions and if the genuine reason is observed by the Hon’ble court, then they are allowed. But for women it’s very hard to get divorce in this patriarchal society. Even if she thinks about divorce, she may be tortured in the matrimonial house and because of unawareness of the Domestic violence Act, she continues to get tormented. If she wants to divorce, remarry, adopt a child or live alone as an independent woman it’s her right to do so. This paper is regarding the status of married women in the country and the rights and remedies they have if they are in an unhappy marriage. The paper tries to deal with the newly involving concepts of live-in relationships and also the options of remarriages available to a woman after her Divorce.

Keywords: Divorce, cruelty, remarriages, live-in relationship, custody, women rights, patriarchal, development.

[1] INDIAN LAWS FOR THE PROTECTION OF WOMEN’S RIGHTS AGAINST DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, Shodhganga,(July 14, 2020, 08:31 PM), https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/63917/10/10_chapter%203.pdf