One Year of Judicial Separation Is Directory and Not a Mandatory Pre-Condition

The Delhi High Court has made a landmark decision that has elucidated the leeway of schedules in mutual consent divorces that the decisional independence and honor of spouses are more important than the strict adherence to protocols. The Full Bench dealt with the issue of whether the period of one-year requirement by Section 13B (1) of the Hindu marriage act, HMA, is absolute.

The main points of the Judgement:

Waiver of the One-Year Separation: The Court decided that the one-year separation period under the statute to initiate a divorce petition could be waived. This is done by making a reference to the provision of Section 14 (1) of the HMA that permits the earlier filing in the instances of exceptional hardship to the petitioner or exceptional depravity by the respondent.
   
Independent Timelines: The court establishes that the consideration of waiving the one-year separation period does not relate in any way to waiving the six-month cooling-off period as in Section 13B (2). A court may at its own discretion waive one or both timelines depending on the circumstances of the case.

Immediate Relief: In the case of both statutory periods waived, the court has no legal obligation to suspend the divorce; the decree may be granted on the spot.

Satisfaction of the judges: The waiver may not be given at the will of the wooer. The courts need to be content with the issue of maturity of the spouses, absence of coercion and the complete absence of reconciliation.

The Court pointed out that subjecting unwilling parties to continue living in a matrimonial abyss is against their core rights. With these waivers, the law recognizes that at the point where a marriage has failed beyond repair, emphasis should be made in creating social reintegration and future prospects of the parties concerned as opposed to the current social facade.

Rajshekhar Rao Vs Saurabh Kansal