NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court on Wednesday held that the statutory requirement of “living separately for a period of one year” before filing for divorce on mutual consent was not mandatory.
A bench of justices Navin Chawla, Anup Jairam Bhambhani and Renu Bhatnagar held that the condition prescribed under Section 13B(1) of the Hindu Marriage Act (HMA) was directory and not mandatory. It can be waived in by the family court and the high court in appropriate cases.
The court said there was no legal justification to deny such flexibility in mutual consent divorces. “Such an approach ignored evolving matrimonial jurisprudence and undermines individual autonomy”.
The bench said that the core requirement of Section 13B was the free and informed consent of both parties, not rigid adherence to timelines.
The court said that forcing unwilling spouses to remain legally bound in a broken marriage could amount to an unjustified intrusion into personal liberty and dignity under Article 21 of the Constitution.
The bench, however, cautioned that such waiver was not to be granted merely on the grounds of ‘asking but only upon the court being satisfied that there are circumstances of exceptional hardship’ for the parties involved. In such a case, the bench said, it would be “wholly undesirable” to keep spouses embroiled in a bad marriage, instead of releasing them from the matrimonial bond.
The high court bench has made the observations while overruling earlier decisions that had treated Section 13B as a “complete code” and insisted that the ‘one-year separation requirement’ was mandatory and incapable of waiver for divorce on mutual consent.
Also in court
‘Will frame policy for laywer empanelment’
The central government on Wednesday told the Delhi High Court that it will come up with a policy for the empanelment of lawyers to represent the Union of India before the Delhi HC and subordinate courts. The Court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) petition challenging the recent empanelment of lawyers in the high court.
Remove social media post, BJP leader told
The HC said that BJP spokesperson Sanju Verma cannot call ex-IPS officer Yashovardhan Jha Azad a “blot on uniform” while asking her to withdraw her remark from social media. Justice Amit Bansal said that “raising aspersions on someone while he was an officer is wrong” and asked her to file her response by January 27, 2026.