The cabinet also approved the woman's share in the property of her husband, in case of a divorce.
Union cabinet on Friday approved amendments in the Hindu marriage laws - giving women a share in her husband's property, making divorce easier and providing rights to adopted children at par with biological off-springs. The meeting was chaired by prime minister Manmohan Singh.
The Marriage Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2010, was introduced in the Rajya Sabha two years ago and then referred to the Parliamentary standing committee on law and justice and personnel. The committee had proposed doing away with the prevailing waiting period before moving a joint motion for annulling marriage.
The amended Bill provides rights to adopted children on par with biological off-springs, in case the parents opt for a divorce. The cabinet also approved the woman's share in the property of her husband, in case of a divorce.
Earlier, the parliamentary panel had asked the government to define the 'irretrievable breakdown of marriage' in the Hindu Marriages Act and the Special Marriages Act. It also stressed that "there should be an effective legal mechanism to provide to women their share in the matrimonial property acquired during the subsistence of the marriage."
Under the new law, the wife can oppose the petition for divorce on grounds of 'grave financial hardship'. Property acquired after the marriage has to be equally distributed between wife and husband after divorce. "Even if woman is just a house wife, all the years she had been attending to household chores and raising children. She is well within rights to claim the share in property," said the report.
The Bill is an off-shoot of a petition moved in the Supreme Court by power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde's daughter Smriti, questioning the validity of Section 13B of the Hindu Marriage Act that requires consent of both husband and wife for divorce.
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