Fastest Legal Provisions to Get a Divorce in India

According to the legal provisions in India, in single-party divorce petitions, the onus is on the spouse filing for divorce to prove the grounds for divorce such as changing religion, cruelty, desertion and adultery. Usually, the cases also reach the criminal court for cruelty by a husband or his relatives under Section 85 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023 — read with Section 86, which defines cruelty (formerly Section 498A IPC, replaced with effect from 1 July 2024) — followed by the demand for maintenance under Section 144 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023 (formerly Section 125 CrPC) and alimony, allegations and the complicated cases are dragged for years, which cause lots of disturbance not just for the couples but for their families as well.

In Mutual consent Divorce, a joint Divorce petition is filed in the District Court containing all terms and conditions regarding settlement between Husband and wife. Statement is recorded by the Court on the first motion. The court ordinarily calls the parties again after six months for the second motion to record their statement, after which it grants the Decree of Divorce and, by virtue of the same, the marriage gets dissolved.

The fastest route is to have this six-month cooling-off period waived. The Supreme Court in Amardeep Singh v. Harveen Kaur, (2017) 8 SCC 746 held that the waiting period under Section 13B(2) is directory, not mandatory, and a family court may waive it where the parties have genuinely settled all disputes (including alimony, custody and property) and there is no possibility of reconciliation. The Supreme Court reaffirmed this in Shilpa Sailesh v. Varun Sreenivasan (2023), where it further clarified that it can, in exercise of its powers under Article 142 of the Constitution, directly dissolve a marriage that has irretrievably broken down. Where the cooling-off period is waived, a mutual-consent divorce can be concluded in a single hearing rather than over six to eighteen months.

But under Section 13B of the Hindu Marriage Act, both husband and wife can file petitions for mutual consent divorce. Before filing the petition, the couple must have been living separately for at least one year, as the text of Section 13B(1) itself requires (“living separately for a period of one year or more”). The court then grants the decree after both parties confirm, on the second motion, that they have not been able to live together and have mutually and freely agreed that the marriage should be dissolved. The decree is granted on the ground of mutual consent — it is not a decree on the ground of “irretrievable breakdown of marriage”, which is not a statutory ground under the Hindu Marriage Act.

Section 13B in the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, divorce by mutual consent

Subject to the provisions of this Act, a petition for dissolution of marriage by a decree of divorce may be presented to the district court by both the parties to a marriage together, whether such marriage was solemnized before or after the commencement of the Marriage Laws Amendment Act, 1976 , on the ground that they have been living separately for a period of one year or more, that they have not been able to live together and that they have mutually agreed that the marriage should be dissolved.

On the motion of both the parties made is not earlier than six months after the date of the presentation of the petition referred to in sub- section (1) and not later than eighteen months after the said date, if the petition is not withdrawn in the meantime, the court shall, on being satisfied, after hearing the parties and after making such inquiry as it thinks fit, that a marriage has been solemnized and that the averments in the petition are true, pass a decree of divorce declaring the marriage to be dissolved with effect from the date of the decree.