Abstract

Marriage is considered as an important part of human being’s life. On the other hand, judicial separation and divorce are the most difficult situations in one's life. Marriage is considered as a sacrament in Indian culture. It is an unchangeable husband-wife relationship made of custom and tradition. Prior to 1955, either party had no recourse of a marriage breakdown. They had to go ahead with the relationship, and the marriage could not be dissolved by divorce. After 1955, Hindu Marriage Act came into force which provides provisions related to judicial separation and divorce. According to Manu, husband and wife cannot be separated from each other till death. Their marriage cannot be broken. According to the Arthashastra, a marriage dissolved by mutual consent would be void, and the marriage should be repudiated by both parties mutually. According to ancient scripture, husband is incomplete without wife and wife is incomplete without husband. Wife is considered to be ardhangini of her husband who cannot be separated from her husband. However Manu does not have much faith in the idea of dissolution of marriage. But According to the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, the section 13 extended into many sub-clauses as one can take divorce from his/her spouse on the basis of many grounds. Divorce is represented by the Act as the marriage dissolution. The marriage or marital status relation should be coated by some protection for the purpose expressed by law for society's interest. Divorce is allowed only for a weighty reason mentioned under Hindu marriage Act 1955, under section 13 otherwise, alternatives are given. Section 10 of Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 provides concept of judicial separation for both spouses who get married under same Act. If they do not want to stay in marriage, they can file a petition for judicial separation under section 10. When the order is passed, they are not bound to have cohabitation.

Keywords