55,000 Couples Want a Divorce

Now that all 50 U.S. states have some form of no-fault divorce on the books with the recent addition of New York as the last hold-out to make the switch, it seems more liberalized divorce laws are being written internationally as well.

The Parliament in New Delhi, India is planning to amend their old divorce laws, the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955, and the Special Marriage Act of 1954, to include a more modern interpretation of the ‘irretrievable breakdown of marriage’ as sufficient grounds for divorce. The new definition of divorce will be available in two weeks and the government is increasing the number of family courts to deal with the increase in the number of divorce cases the amendment is expected to bring. Indian officials said the family courts should be able to wind up the backlog of pending divorce and child custody cases within a year of their filing.

Tackling the backlog will be quite the feat considering Law Commission Ministers said there are over 55,000 pending divorce cases awaiting disposition in the country right now. The Commission issued an opinion that said they felt “There is no use in keeping two persons in matrimony when they cannot live together peacefully,” and both spouses have mutually agreed to the divorce.

There is no denying that 55,000 couples waiting to get divorced is an astounding number, and might seem to give credence to the theory that no-fault laws actually encourage divorce. However, the number does represent more than three years of old filings that are expected to be cleared out and expedited by the new law. The actual number of cases filed in one year in the largest Indian cities is a bit lower at 7,500 in Mumbai, 9,000 in Delhi and 3,000 in Bangalore.