Source: www.washingtonpost.com
CHENNAI, INDIA, June 21, 2010: Even in India’s most traditional cities, a powerful new profession has arrived: the divorce lawyer. Divorce rates are rising in India as the fast-growing economy unleashes unprecedented financial freedoms and mobility, especially among women and young city dwellers. But divorce cases often drag on for years, clogging already backlogged courts and causing painful and even violent family disputes.
This month, the Indian government proposed a law that would make it easier for couples to get divorced based on the “irretrievable breakdown” of the marriage or “incompatibility.” In most cases, courts currently grant divorces only when there is mutual consent or proof of abuse or adultery. Proving those allegations is often so fraught with drama that tabloid newspapers regularly feature the fights in print.
Divorce has long been stigmatized here, while marriage is a cornerstone of culture, linking families and businesses, and is seen by older generations as an essential duty. Until recently, couples were reluctant to divorce, even if they were miserable.
V.K. Bajaj, chief executive of Today’s Chanakya, which conducts surveys on social and political issues, said a recent poll in cities across the country showed that Indians were conflicted about changes in divorce policy. “India is a country of various cultures, but the most common thing is that marriage is at the center of our lives,” Bajaj said. “Some people don’t want to abandon the traditions and love of family that we are famous for around the world. A divorce may be too simple.”
[HPI note: As most readers know, India’s law has separate civil codes for Hindus and Muslims.]