Advantage women: Amendment to marriage law makes divorce easier.
To make marriage laws more women-friendly, the government today approved a host of recommendations made by the Group of Ministers (GoM) on divorce and inheritance in the Marriage Laws Amendment Bill.
The amendment now makes filing for divorces easier by doing away with the provision that required a couple to file a 'joint application' after the mandatory waiting period.
In the existing provision, if a couple files for divorce, even when consensual, there is a mandatory waiting period of six to 18 months. After that, the couple needs to come back to court to sanctify the divorce.
If the couple does not move a joint application, then the divorce is not sanctified.
Now, a judge can exercise discretion in granting divorce if one of the partners does not move a second joint application for divorce with mutual consent within three years.
The other big change in the law is on inheritance. The amendment provides for sufficient compensation to a woman from her husband's ancestral property in case of divorce.
Also, in cases where the ancestral property could not be divided, the woman is now entitled to get sufficient compensation by calculating her husband's share in it. 
The compensation can be worked out by the court hearing the divorce case if there is confusion over the amount, the amendment says.
