Between choice and security: irretrievable breakdown of marriage in India
| Author | Affiliation |
|---|---|
Chitkara, Radhika |
Mykolo Romerio universitetas |
| Date |
|---|
2014 |
Straipsnyje analizuojamas „priklausomos žmonos“ diskursas, pagrindžiantis būtinybę vystyti skyrybų abipusiu sutarimu reformas Indijoje. Pagrindinis moters ekonominio saugumo garantas yra santuoka, tačiau skyrybų atveju sutuoktiniai turi akivaizdžiai nelygias teises. Nevaržomos teismų diskrecijos tęstinumas, grindžiamas precedentu, daro didelę žalą žmonos ekonominiams interesams bei suvaržo skyrybų abipusiu sutarimu pasirinkimo laisvę. Daroma išvada, kad sutuoktinių ekonominė lygybė turi būti aiškiai apibrėžta įstatymais ir tiesiogiai įgyvendinama teismų praktikoje.
economic contribution to the family is ignored. The debate also neglects the compelling empirical evidence from other jurisdictions, narrating the drastic fall in economic status of wives exacerbated by no-fault divorce. The second part narrates the genderblind jurisprudence of the Supreme Court and High Courts which granted no-fault divorce without any legislative backing or any financial orders for the security of wives, thereby converting the debate on no-fault divorce to one solely on choice, and not on the security of wives. In the third part, the Marriage Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2013, which adopts the model of unrestrained judicial discretion to divide property between spouses, is specifically critiqued. It draws from the studies of Kirti Singh and Jaya Sagade to show that discretion in matrimonial litigation is normally exercised adverse to the interests of women. It concludes by stating that the interests of the Bill to uphold individual choice, and symbolically recognize marriage as a union of equals, would have been better served through a community of property regime, with equal division of marital property.