Family Court Lawyers oppose fresh ground for divorce - IBD Bill, 2010
AADITI JATHAR LAKADE
Posted: Tue Jun 29 2010, 00:54 hrs
A section of family court lawyers from Pune have written to the Law Commission and Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily protesting against the recent inclusion of “irretrievable breakdown of marriage” as fresh ground for divorce in the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 and Special Marriage Act, 1954.
“The rule will deprive women of their rights to matrimonial home and property. It will also rob them of their negotiating powers during matrimonial litigation,” the letter said. The decision was taken at a meeting of family court lawyers practising in various courts in the state. The meet was organised by Majlis, a Mumbai-based centre for rights discourse and interdisciplinary arts initiatives.
The letter has been signed by advocate Flavia Agnes, one of the founders of Majlis along with lawyers from Pune. Women in western countries where a similar law has been implemented are facing hardships despite contributing special non-monetary-returns by working as housewives and raising children, it said.
Source: https://www.indianexpress.com/news/family-lawyers-oppose-fresh-ground-for-divor/639689/
Now a comment from a Common Man: "Far more important than equal division of property is the presumption of shared parenting if irretrievable breakdown is added as a new ground. Women’s groups take for granted that they will get sole custody. So rightly or wongly, they make a lot of noise about their next goal: money and property. Mens groups and children’s rights advocates have foolishly not woken up to the implications of irretrievable breakdown for them. They have just not realized that they will lose their children on a woman’s whim - with absolutely no recourse or protection under the law. This kind of absolute power, will corrupt absolutely.
Research in the United States has shown that in no-fault divorce regimes, women’s decision to file for divorce is highly influenced by expectations of retaining sole custody of a child. If Indian men care about their relationship with their children, they should immediately oppose the irretrievable breakdown clause tooth and nail until shared parenting is also introduced as a presumption. If they dont do that, they will surely deserve what they get.
I am sure feminists groups have a copy of the IBD, 2010 Bill (a common man like me don't have a copy so to speak and the link at Parliament of India website is intentionally broken so that common man can't see it till Mrs. Shinde gets a IBD grounds based Divorce !)) and feminists are not happy with what they see in it. They want equitable division of property, like the US model. The US model is kind of fair and quick in my opinion and is dependent on contribution of the spouse and the husband too stands to gain if he has worked at home and wife has worked outside. Also property acquired before the marraige or after separation cannot be split or divided. In this model Prenups. hold strong, that's the way India is headed. So specialist Lawyers who can draw up a good Prenups. are now going to be in demand, great way to master the profession so to speak."
