After Supreme Court order, divorce ‘cooling period’ waived

After Supreme Court order, divorce ‘cooling period’ waived

MUMBAI: Two months after the Supreme Court held that a six-month wait for a mutual consent divorce is not mandatory, the Mumbai family court waived the “cooling off” period for a couple estranged for almost a decade. It helped reduce the agony of a Mumbai woman battling cancer, and her husband of three decades who lives abroad. The waiver is the first in Mumbai since the SC ruling, in a freshly instituted mutual consent divorce plea, said advocate Anagha Nimbkar.

She had sought the waiver on the couple’s behalf last month when she filed their joint divorce plea citing irretrievable breakdown of their long marriage. The couple, married in 1987, have been living apart since 2008. Diagnosed with cancer and under treatment in the city since last month, the woman cited her health issues to say she did not wish to continue her trauma by prolonging the wait for a decree in a “dead marriage’’.

Relying on the SC verdict, Nimbkar sought waiver of the 6-month waiting stipulation for divorce by mutual consent. Veteran divorce lawyer Mridula Kadam said she has not heard of such a waiver being granted by Mumbai family court judges since the SC in September laid down the criteria for a court to use its discretion to speed up divorce.

The order was lauded by many who felt it will pave the way for other such deserving cases. “Making couples stick to a statutory six-month period before a final decree would be meaningless when they can demonstrate that marriage is truly over,’’ said lawyer Mrinalini Deshmukh. The court observed the couple has stayed apart for more than the statutory period of a year.

The court said, “Keeping the case pending would prolong her (the woman’s) agony and thus can be inferred to be a fit case to waive the statutory six month period.’’

Source: ET