Divorce procedure of Hindu Marriage

 Hindu Marriage Act does permit either party to divorce on the grounds of unhappiness, or if he or she can prove that the marriage is no longer tenable according to Hindu Marriage Act 1955.

A petition for divorce usually can only be filed one year after registration. However, in certain cases of suffering by the petitioner or mental instability of the respondent, a court may allow a petition to be presented beforeone year.

Grounds for divorce

A marriage may be dissolved by a court order on the following grounds:

1. Adultery - the respondent has had voluntary sexual intercourse with a man or a woman other than the spouse after the marriage.
2. Cruelty - the respondent has physically or mentally abused the petitioner.
3. Desertion - the respondent has deserted the petitioner for a continuous period of not less than two years.
4. Conversion to another religion - the respondent has ceased to be a Hindu and has taken another religion.
5. Unsound mind - the respondent has been diagnosed since the marriage ceremony as being unsound of mind to such an extent that normal married life is not possible.
6. Disease - the respondent been diagnosed with an incurable form of leprosy or has venereal disease in acommunicable form.
7. Presumption of death - the respondent has not been seen alive for seven years or more.
8. No resumption of cohabitation after a decree of judicial separation for a period of at least one year.

In addition, a wife may also seek a divorce on the grounds that:

1. In case of marriagesthat took place before the Hindu Marriage Act 1955 was enacted, the husband was already married and that any other wife of thehusband was alive at the time of the marriage ceremony.
2. The husband, after marriage, has been found guilty of rape, sodomy or bestiality.
3. Co-habitation has not been resumed within a yearafter an order for maintenance under Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code or alternatively, under the Hindu Adoptions & Maintenance Act 1956.
4. The wife was under-age when she married and she repudiates the marriage before attaining the age of 18 years.

Alimonies (permanent maintenance)

At the time of the decree of divorce or at any subsequent time, the court may decide that one party should pay to the other an amount for maintenance and support. This could be a one off payment, or a periodical (such as monthly) payment. The amount to be paid is at the discretion of the court.

Remarriage

Remarriage is possible once a marriage has been dissolved by a decree of divorce and no longer able to be appealed (whether there was no right of appeal in the first place, or whether the time for appealing has expired, or whether an appeal has been presented but dismissed).