Report No. 90

2.4. Widening of the grounds of divorce for Christians (Second alternative).-

The second question to be considered in regard to divorce was a somewhat wider one namely, whether the Indian Divorce Act, 1869, should be so amended as to permit divorce amongst Christians on grounds not mentioned in the present section, such as cruelty, desertion, insanity, and other diseases and various other miscellaneous grounds available under other enactments in force in India.1 This constituted the second alternative put forth in the Working Paper. The Commission noted that it was possible to evolve a milder form of the second alternative. One can think of introducing as a ground of divorce available to either spouse (amongst Christians):-

(i) adultery;

(ii) desertion for a period of two years without reasonable excuse;2 and

(iii) cruelty.

1. The various grounds of divorce under Indian matrimonial legislation are summarised in Appendix.

2. If a comprehensive definition of "desertion" is introduced, absence of reasonable excuse would form part of the definition itself.