Irretrievable Breakdown of marriage Meaning;
The situation that exists when either or both spouses no longer are able or willing to live with each other, thereby destroying their Husband and Wife relationship with no hope of resumption of spousal duties.
The irretrievable breakdown of a marriage provides the ground for a no-fault divorce in many jurisdictions.
History
The concept of Irretrievable Breakdown of marriage was first introduced in New Zealand. In England, the law commission of England in its report had said, "the objectives of good divorce law are two: one to buttress rather than to undermine the stability of marriage and two, when regrettably a marriage has broken down, to enable the empty shell to be destroyed with maximum fairness, and minimum bitterness, humiliation and distress."
Current situation;
And now The Law Commission of India in its 71st Report title "The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 - Irretrievable Breakdown of Marriage as a Ground of Divorce" recommended amendments in the Hindu Marriage Act to make irretrievable breakdown of marriage as a new ground for granting divorce among the Hindus.
Breakdown of Marriage was made the sole ground for divorce under section 1 of the Divorce Law reforms Act, 1973 in England.
In the case of Savitri Pandey v. Prem Chandra Pandey, AIR 2002 SC 591, the Supreme Court reiterated the need for the inclusion of irretrievable breakdown of marriage as a ground for divorce. The Supreme Court in Manjula v. K.R. Mahesh JT 2006 (7) SC 220, held, the marriage has irretrievably broken down and there would be no point in making an effort to bring about conciliation between the parties.
In 2003, the Supreme Court in Naveen Kohli v. Neelu Kohil, 2006(3) SCALE 252, recommended an amendment to the Hindu Marriage Act, whereby either spouse can cite Irretrievable breakdown of marriage as a reason to seek divorce. Expressing the concern that divorce could not be granted in number of cases where marriage were virtually dead due to the absence of the provision of irretrievable breakdown, the court strongly advocated incorporating this concept in the law in view of the change of circumstances.
Now here latest scenario;
Irretrievable breakdown is no ground for divorce: HC
TNN, Aug 10, 2010, 06.36am IST
Link
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Irretrievable-breakdown-is-no-ground-for-divorce-HC/articleshow/6284274.cms
NEW DELHI: Pointing out that "irretrievable breakdown of marriage'' is not yet a ground for divorce, the Delhi high court on Monday warned that whenever it is included as a ground, it ought to have adequate safegurads so as to "not send a message that divorce has now become a cakewalk''.
Justice Kailash Gambhir turned down the plea of a husband seeking seperation and suggested a few points to be kept in mind while incorporating this specific ground as a reason for divorce in the Hindu Marriage Act.
"It will be important to bring forth that HC in the exercise of its powers can't grant divorce on the ground of irretrievable breakdown of marriage as it is not yet a ground in Hindu Marriage Act,'' HC noted while dealing with a suit seeking to challenge refusal to grant divorce to a husband by a lower court. In his plea the husband claimed that his wife and his mother-in-law caused great mental agony to him as both cooked their own food when his mother-in-law visited them. He said the mother-in-law also "created scenes'' that made him feel depressed and neglected.
Listing the points HC said firstly, there should be a minimum period before which such a ground can be invoked and when it does, grant of divorce should be subject to the wife getting adequate money. Moreover, HC said, in case a fueding couple has children, their maintenance, education and upbringing, visitation rights ought to be decided during the divorce hearing itself.
Dealing with the case at hand, HC noted that the allegations of cruelty levelled by the husband against her wife and in-laws "are vague, indefinite, unspecific and uncertain''. It added that without spelling any specific acts of cruelty either on the part of the wife or her mother it would be difficult "to prove mental cruelty''.
"The relationship between husband and wife is one of the most delicate emotional bonds and needs constant nurturing, tolerance and understanding,'' HC noted saying even though "divorce on the ground of irretrievable breakdown of marriage might be contrary to common peception and the idea of marriage being a holy union of seven births. But in the bid to preserve the unworkable marriage which has long ceased to be alive is bound to be a source of greater misery for the parties than divorce itself.''
Now lets see what happend next.
