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Indian Divorce Act 1869 review mooted
Chennai, Nov 19 : The Madras High Court has suggested the Union government for considering an amendment to the Indian Divorce Act of 1869 to enable Indian courts to entertain petitions for dissolution of marriage when one of the spouses was residing in the country at the time of filing for divorce.
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Disposing of a petition filed by one Indira Rachel in 1995, seeking to strike down sections 2, 10 and 11 of the Act, a Division Bench comprising Justice P K Misra and Justice A Kulasekaran pointed out that though Section 2 could be literally interpreted to conclude that both parties should be domiciled in India at the time of filing a divorce petition such contingencies were not in contemplation then.
"Therefore, according to us, such provision should be interpreted to mean that the courts in India shall be entitled to entertain petition for dissolution of marriage where either of the parties have domiciled in India at the time when the petition is presented," the Judges said.
They said in their view such an interpretation would bring it in "consonance with the philosophy of the constitution".
The Judges said it was not necessary for them to consider the prayer for striking down sections 10 and 11 of the Act as the sections had already been amended according to the counsel for the parties. |
