Hyderabad Dec. 8: Religious conversions after marriage are becoming the ground for many divorce cases in the city. A Hindu woman, for instance, has filed for divorce from her husband alleging that that he had converted to Islam so that he could marry three more women. Her petition is being heard by the Family Court in Hyderabad. In another case before the Andhra Pradesh High Court, a woman had applied for divorce saying that her husband had pretended to be a Hindu but she realised that he was a Christian after she married him. They had got married according to the Hindu Marriage Act. The man contested the case stating that his wife cannot be awarded a divorce as it was an inter-caste marriage and deserved to be governed by the Special Marriages Act and not the Hindu Marriage Act.
“All marriages solemnised under the Hindu Marriage Act stand to be judged by it at the time of resolution too, and had it been a declared inter-caste marriage, it would have been governed by the Special Marriages Act,” said Mr P. Subhash, advocate at the Andhra Pradesh High Court. According to Section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act, any marriage solemnised under it may be dissolved by a decree of divorce on the ground that the other party had ceased to be a Hindu by conversion to another religion.
According to advocates, three cases of similar nature are pending at the Hyderabad Family Court and one each at the Family Court in Secunderabad and the AP High Court.
In all such cases, partners opposing the divorce argue that they should be governed by the Special Marriages Act but their claim stands nullified as they got married under a different Act.
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