The Hindu Marriage Act (HMA), 1955 grants divorce on the grounds of cruelty, adultery, desertion continuously for more than two years, conversion to another religion, mental disorder, affliction with a deadly disease and renunciation. The Supreme Court has recommended ‘Irretrievable Breakdown’ to be made a ground for divorce as well.

This last amendment in the HMA took place three decades ago in 1976 where in cruelty was included as a ground for divorce. It was clarified that cruelty does not cover trivial quarrels between spouses, which occur in day-to-day married life.

This appears to be a well thought over suggestion in which the Supreme Court has tried to make sour marriages come to a congenial end without unnecessarily stretching them for innumerable years once they have been broken down irrevocably.

This recommendation implies that marriages which have broken-down irretrievably should well be put to an end.

We all have, at one point of time or the other, agreed with the saying that “Marriages are made in Heaven and performed on Earth” but isn’t it ironical that a sub-clause has been added to the above wherein the same could be read as “Marriages are made in Heaven and performed on Earth…AND BROKEN ON EARTH AS WELL”.

However Law has to be practical in its approach so much so that although severance is the worst end that can happen to any relationship, the Apex Court is of the recommendation that if two people cannot live together amicably then it is always better to put an end to such a relationship!!!

The suggestion for ‘Irretrievable Breakdown’ as a ground for divorce seems to be a breather for people who are in the trap of smashed matrimonial relationships.

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