Mumbai: Family Court Upholds Supreme Court Ruling, Waives Off 6 Month Waiting Period In Divorce

A Mumbai family court waived the six months ‘cooling off’ period for a couple who had filed a divorce and were estranged for more than nearly a decade now, reported The Times of India.

The verdict of the family court comes two months after the apex court had given an order that the six-month wait for a mutually consented divorce is not mandatory.

The ruling by the Supreme Court can be read here.

The recent case

The verdict by the family court reduced the agony of a Mumbai woman battling cancer, and her husband who lives abroad. The waiver is the first in Mumbai since the ruling of the Supreme Court.

The couple had filed their joint divorce plea last month citing irretrievable breakdown of their marriage of thirty long years.The couple, married in 1987, have been living apart since 2008.

The woman was diagnosed with cancer and has been undergoing treatment for the same since the last month in Mumbai. She cited this reason while requesting the court to help her do away with the waiting period which would only add to her agony.

Referring to the SC verdict, Nimbkar sought a waiver of the 6-month waiting stipulation for divorce by mutual consent.

The court, in its ruling, observed that the couple had lived separately for more than the stipulated period of a year. It added that the keeping the case pending would aggravate the agony of the woman and thus deemed it fit to waive off the six-months waiting period.

Legal experts have welcomed the move taken by the Mumbai family court that has upheld the recent Supreme Court ruling.

Lawyer Mrinalini Deshmukh reportedly said, “Making couples stick to a statutory six-month period before a final decree would be meaningless when they can demonstrate that marriage is truly over.”