Christian divorce law set to be amended

New Delhi, November 13

Christian couples’ wait for two years for seeking divorce by mutual consent may soon end as a nearly 150-year-old law is set to be amended to lower the requisite separation period to one year following persistent demand from the community.

The government has put the Divorce (Amendment) Bill, 2016 in the “tentative list of government legislative and financial business” expected to be taken up during the winter session of Parliament beginning November 16.

However, the proposal to amend the provisions dealing with Christian marriages is yet to be cleared by the Union Cabinet. According to the Law Ministry proposal, the Divorce Act, 1869 would be amended to halve the separation period for couples from the present two years to one year before they can file for divorce by mutual consent to bring it at par with laws governing other communities.

The separation period under the Hindu Marriage Act, Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act and the Special Marriage Act is one year. Section 10A(1) of the Divorce Act, added through an amendment in 2001, says that a couple seeking divorce should be living separately for a period of “two years or more”.

In April, the Supreme Court had urged the Centre to make necessary amendments. — PTI