Marriage is the social acceptance of the union of a man and a woman resulting in establishment of rights and obligations against each other whereas divorce is a legal dissolution of marriage bringing the marriage to an end. Divorce of a Hindu spouse is dealt by Section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 and Section 13B of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 deals with Divorce by Mutual Consent.
If both the parties to marriage are willing to dissolute their marriage then they may together, on a mutual consent, bring their marriage to an end by jointly presenting a petition to the District court on the following grounds:
Firstly, that they have been living separately since a year or more,
Secondly, that they are not being able to live together and
Thirdly, they have mutually agreed to dissolute their marriage.
Once the petition is presented a time period of six months to one year is given to the parties so that they may reunite with each other. After the time period of six months the parties have to present themselves again in the court so as to end the second motion conforming the consent filed earlier. Usually it takes six months but it may extend upto one year for divorce by mutual consent from the date of filing of the petition for divorce. It varies from case to case and place to place.
Only after the second motion a decree of division is granted by the court. If any one of the parties is absent at the time of division, division cannot be granted. In certain cases, the time period of six months can be exempted. For instance, in the case Abhay Chauhan v. Rachna Singh, the Delhi High Court held that waiting period of six months can be exempted in certain cases. The Supreme Court, in a case, held that minimum period of 6 months mentioned under Section 13B(2) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 for passing a decree of consent is not mandatory and can be waived by the courts depending on the facts and circumstances of the case.
