Private Counsel

I'm from Mumbai. I had an arranged marriage in Agra; my husband is from there. My in-laws troubled me a lot and after three years, I came back to Mumbai. I've been back for four years now. We're finally looking at divorce with mutual consent. Can I file for such a divorce in Mumbai? If not, what are my other options in Mumbai as I don't want to go back to Agra.
As you live in Mumbai, you can file your proceedings in Mumbai itself. You do not need to go back to Agra. Are there any children involved? If so, you may want to look into child support and custody arrangement. Since you have been separated for a period that is more than a year, once you file for divorce under mutual consent, you will be granted your divorce within six months.

Do look at your consent terms in detail. Is there any settlement involved? Consider alimony, residence, car, etc or waiving it altogether. Do deliberate over whether your jewellery and other personal belongings are in your possession as well as closing any joint accounts/investments/lockers.

I want to know the timeframe wherein a divorce is termed a 'deemed divorce'. I have heard the period was seven years but has now been reduced to three years. Is that correct? Also, in mutual consent cases, the time taken between the first motion and the second motion was six months (before granting the decree), but now has it been relaxed and granted immediately (no need to wait for six months). Please throw more light on this.
There is no concept as a ‘deemed divorce’ in India or any other country as far as I am aware. The seven-year period that you refer to is called a ‘civil death’, that is, if the spouse is not known to be alive or heard from for a continuous period of seven years or more, then it becomes a ground for divorce. Similarly, desertion for a continuous period of two or more years also becomes a ground for divorce.

You still need to petition the court for the same and the divorce is not deemed to be granted or automatically granted. As far as the statutory period of six months is concerned in a mutual consent divorce petition, the only situation in which it can be waived is if there is an ongoing contested petition for a period of six months or more and that is converted into a mutual consent by filing of consent terms.

I applied for a divorce on the grounds of cruelty in January 2011. My husband is just not ready to sign it and wants full custody of our eight-year-old son. I don't approve of his personal and professional life and hence cannot even think of giving full custody. He keeps delaying the case by remaining absent and changing advocates. The case is getting unnecessarily prolonged. I am in debt now. I have not asked for alimony or maintenance. I just want to live peacefully with my son. My husband does not look like he will ever sign the divorce, so will the case ever come to an end? How do I proceed?
The best advice I can give you is a series of suggestions. Ask your lawyer to make a request for your son to be interviewed by the judge in his chambers and make his observations on the prospect of visitation rights and custody. Engage a private investigator (PI) to shadow your husband. Thereafter, whatever questionable activities are undertaken by him will be caught on tape and you will be able to produce the PI as a witness to corroborate the evidence.

Your matter is a relatively young matter and will take time unless you proactively try to put an end to it. Approach your husband out of court and tell him that since you are not looking at any monetary settlement he should file consent terms with you and convert it to a mutual consent divorce petition. Also do consider the financial future of your son. Is your husband contributing anything? Why not file a petition for custody as well? You can also ask the court to appoint a mediator who will try to settle your  matter mutually.

My daughter had an arranged marriage in February 2012. She stayed with my son-in-law for barely five months. He started harassing her for dowry and repeatedly asked for money from us. There was also a lot of physical abuse and he hit her on the head and legs. In fact, she was pregnant and had a miscarriage as he hit her in the stomach. My wife went to my son-in-law's house in Bangalore and brought her back to Vapi where we live. Since then, there have been no calls from her husband or father-in-law. Hence, we have applied for a divorce. After six months, her father-in-law called me and asked that we send my daughter back. I don't want this. They have received the notice but are not willing to be present in court. Under such circumstances, how do we free my daughter?
Have you filed any police complaints? Or clicked any pictures of the wounds inflicted on her? Is there a medical report saying that the foetus died in utero due to assault on the pregnant woman? Involve elders in both the families or family friends to intervene so that an amicable solution can be arrived at and precious time can be saved. Since you have filed for a divorce, you have no choice but to wait and remain strong since there is no reconciliation possible.

Advocate Fazaa Shroff Garg is the co-author of Breaking Up, Your Step-By-Step Guide to Getting Divorced. She practices family law.