Ques:My sister got married 3 months back. Since then she has been continuously been ill-treated by her husband and his parents. My sister is daily tortured by them. Yesterday, she came back to our house. It is not possible for her to live with such type of person who started harassing her from day 1 of marriage. We want divorce for my sister. What should be done since we are told that divorce after 3 months of marriage is not possible.
Answer: The general rule under Section 14 of the Hindu Marriage Act is that the court cannot entertain any petition for divorce, unless at the date of the presentation of the petition one year has elapsed since the date of the marriage. However, under the Proviso to this Section, the Court has been empowered to allow a petition to be presented before one year has elapsed since the date of the marriage on the ground that the case is one of exceptional hardship to the petitioner or of exceptional depravity on the part of the respondent, if an application is made to the court in accordance with such rules as may be made by the High Court in that behalf.
So, you’ll have to check if any such rules have been made by the high court of your area and then in accordance with such rules, you may have to file the application showing as to how this case is one of exceptional hardship to the petitioner or of exceptional depravity on the part of the respondent. If these conditions are met, then it may be legally possible for the court to accept the petition for divorce even before the completion of one year from the date of marriage.
Otherwise, as mentioned above, the divorce petition cannot be presented to the court before completion of one year from the date of marriage.
Answer: The general rule under Section 14 of the Hindu Marriage Act is that the court cannot entertain any petition for divorce, unless at the date of the presentation of the petition one year has elapsed since the date of the marriage. However, under the Proviso to this Section, the Court has been empowered to allow a petition to be presented before one year has elapsed since the date of the marriage on the ground that the case is one of exceptional hardship to the petitioner or of exceptional depravity on the part of the respondent, if an application is made to the court in accordance with such rules as may be made by the High Court in that behalf.
So, you’ll have to check if any such rules have been made by the high court of your area and then in accordance with such rules, you may have to file the application showing as to how this case is one of exceptional hardship to the petitioner or of exceptional depravity on the part of the respondent. If these conditions are met, then it may be legally possible for the court to accept the petition for divorce even before the completion of one year from the date of marriage.
Otherwise, as mentioned above, the divorce petition cannot be presented to the court before completion of one year from the date of marriage.
