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Cooling off period waived for divorce

he Delhi High Court has ings under the Domestic Violence Act,
come to the aid of a woman The ruling relies on a verdict 2005, the parties settled their disputes
who is set to remarry soon of the Supreme Court which through mediation.
by waiving the cooling off had said that divorce can be A settlement took place that the
T period for divorce from her marriage be dissolved by mutual con-
estranged husband. Justice Prateek granted without the mandatory sent and it was agreed that the man
Jalan noted that there does not 18-month period of separation would pay Rs 3.5 lakh to the woman.
appear to be any likelihood of recon- They approached the family court to
ciliation between the estranged couple between the parties, writes dissolve the marriage and after com-
and relied on a verdict of the Supreme tehelka bureau pletion of first motion, the parties filed
Court which had ruled that divorce an application for waiver of the statu-
can be granted without the mandatory It set aside an order of a family court tory period of six months.
18-month period of separation between which had rejected the woman’s The woman intended to remarry
the parties. application. another person on May 2 but a day
The apex court had, in 2017, said The high court said a holistic reading before, the family court rejected the
that the six month “cooling off” period of the apex court’s judgement leads to plea for wavier of the statutory period
can be waived by the courts in cases of the conclusion that purposeless mar- of six months. The high court said the
divorce through mutual consent. riage which has no chance of reunion safeguards contained in the statue are
The high court allowed a petition by ought not to be prolonged. The man intended to explore every avenue of
the woman for waiving the statutory and woman had got married in July reconciliation and avoid an impulsive
period of six months under Section 2017 and started living separately from decision to break a marriage.
13B(2) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. October 25, 2017. During the proceed- “In the present case, there does not

Tehelka / 31 may 2019 46 www.Tehelka.com