On May 1, the Supreme Court said that in cases of a marriage being “wrecked beyond hope of salvage,” the cooling-off period of six to 18 months would only “breed misery and pain.” It held that its extraordinary discretion under Article 142 of the Constitution can be used to provide justice for couples trapped in bitter marriages.
This judgment may help ease the suffering of Indian women who wish to be divorced. Data show that a higher share of divorced/separated Indian women endured emotional, physical and sexual harassment from their most recent husband than currently married women. A higher share of divorced/separated women also experienced restrictions on their mobility and had a limited say in their spending decisions during their marriage compared to currently married women. A higher share of divorced women had faced suspicion from their (then) husbands during marriage. These conclusions are based on the National Family Health Survey-5.
The share of divorced women who experienced emotional violence (insults, humiliation, threats) from their most recent husband during marriage was two times higher than currently married women ( Table 1). The share of divorced women who experienced sexual violence (13.4%) was more than twice that of currently married women (5.8%).
