A Bird’s Eye View On Irretrievable Breakdown Of Marriage In India With Special Reference To Landmark Judgements
Divya.K, Assistant Professor (Contract Basis) School of excellence in law, TNDALU
ABSTRACT
Marriage according to the long-established norms in India was regarded as absolutely sacramental. This holy union was considered to be binding and everlasting in nature. This time honoured view however has been through a drastic change with the enactment of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 owing to the contemporary concepts of divorce and judicial separation being accepted under the law. Under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 fundamentally there are three theories under which a divorce can be granted such as Guilt theory or Fault theory, Mutual Consent theory, Supervening circumstances theory. The Irretrievable breakdown theory of divorce is the fourth and the most contentious theory in legal jurisprudence based on the assumption that marriage is a union of two persons based on love, affection and to show dignity for each other. If these are curbed due to any of the reasons to mention such as cruelty, desertion, adultery, insanity etc and if the connubial relation between the spouses reach to such an extent from where it becomes completely irreplaceable and has come to a point where neither of the companion can live peacefully with each other and ripe the benefits of a matrimonial relations, than it is better to dissolve the marriage. The irreparable nature of the situation gives rise to the alternative of providing the couple a choice to leave each other’s company without harshness and affliction. 'Irretrievable breakdown of marriage' is not a ground for divorce under the Hindu Marriage Act and the Special Marriages Act. The Supreme Court in its significant ruling opined that divorce can be granted if a marriage is totally unworkable, emotionally dead and beyond salvage. The Law Commission of India as well as judiciary proposes the inclusion of irretrievable break down as a special ground for divorce under Hindu Marriage Act 1955, as it is felt that due to the technicalities involved in actual theories of divorce it sometimes become convoluted for parties in seeking separation. This paper discusses about the various theories of divorce, evolution of irretrievable breakdown of marriage, the reports submitted by the Law Commission of India , whether irrevocable breakdown can be considered as a ground for divorce with special note to the landmark judgments rendered by the Indian Judiciary.
Keywords: Marriage, divorce, theories, irretrievable breakdown, Landmark Judgments.
