Rising Divorces In India

Vasudha Rao


Times of India reported that “ Young Marriages torn apart by stress, faster than ever “http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style-landing/relationships/love-sex/Young-marriages-torn-apart-by-stress-faster-than-ever/articleshow/53721378.cms?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=TOI.

The article went on to state that in many cases of marriages(including love marriage), couples have been unable to consummate the marriage. And therefore filed for divorce. Consummation of marriage as per Wikipedia is the first act of sexual intercourse in the marriage.

The Times of India reported that couples have jobs which demand all the attention leaving them with no time for each other. And in this age of internet, attention spans are reducing to almost nil .And all get bored too easily. This includes getting tired of their partners a swell. So loyalty is dumped & new partners sought faster .Moreover,  net offers options like porn in which no action needs to be done & gives voyeuristic pleasure. Perhaps, the selfie craze has something to do   with this. Many of the couples feel that they themselves are not good enough in bed (to be photographed!!!!)& so why bother? Pro creation is perhaps the last thing on their minds.  Of course, comparisons of being good, bad or ugly in sex is made with pornography which is all humbug. And this happens in a nation which prides itself on gifting the Kamasutra to the world!

 The man & the woman fail to find marriage appealing, especially, as regards sex. This is because studies have shown that teenagers have already experienced sex at tender ages http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/Sexually-active-teenagers-on-the-rise-finds-study/articleshow/47994712.cms.In India, religious & political leaders & society frown on sex education in schools .And the results are glaring. Teen sex & pregnancy is on the rise. And, many times, this leads to loss of lives by suicides & honour killings.

Teen pregnancies leads to illegal abortions with scant regard to consequences.http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/dehradun/City-gynaecologists-raise-alarm-over-abortion-pill-abuse/articleshow/40204410.cms. The courts have different views on this matter of abortions even in cases of rapes. Though the Supreme Court & the Delhi High Court have allowed abortions for rape survivors, during the 24th& 26th week respectively, a court in UP  has disallowed abortion of a rape survivor  http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31804&articlexml=Cant-abort-court-tells-16-year-old-rape-18082016011019 This just means that women have no control over their bodies .The society & the government which could not prevent the rape sit in judgement over the issue of abortion of the resultant pregnancy.  All this leads to grave emotional &physical issues for girls &women.

Consent is not something which the Indian male understands .And hence, female consent is taken for granted. The result is, that girl is scarred for life & obviously would refrain from sex for the rest of her life.In many cases, the girl may find it extremely difficult or simply refuse to have sexual intercourse .This leads to marital rape which is yet to be declared as an offence under the Indian law.    Man, on the other hand, takes the sexual experience as a sign of his manliness .He feels,he needs to sleep, to conquer .And conquests with multiple partners boost the male egos like nothing else does. And then, he goes public with his ego boosters. Males believe that every female he sleeps with, is public property after his manly conquest .And more often than not, other men ape blindly. Men lust after sex  while women want companionship .And since the twain rarely meet, marriages are ending in divorces  ! If marriages did not happen, all would be spared the expenses of the fat Indian weddings & obviously the competitions of “Teri shadi meri shadi se costly kaise? “ This soon changes to “Tera divorce mere divorce se pehle kaise? Perhaps, soon things will come to such a pass, that more than employers, the last come, first go principle  http://www.lawzonline.com/legalencyclopedia/l/Last-come-first-go-rule.htm will come to apply in the marriage industry if it survives that is.

And all this makes me wonder, why was Divorce law not taught as a comprehensive subject instead of The Hindu Law, the Mohammedan Law,etc.at the graduation level?As humans, we revel not so much in our joys but on the despair of others.  And so lawyers like myself could bank on miseries of others . After all, when a  marriage is no longer sacrosanct, can assisting   in getting a divorce be called profane?