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The Kerala High Court on 25th February,2010 declared Section 10 A (1) of the Divorce Act unconstitutional. The provisions of Section 10 A(1) stipulate a two-year separation in Christian marriages before the spouses can file an application seeking divorce by mutual consent. The period of separation has been reduced to one year.The Division Bench comprising Justices R Basant and M C Harirani held the provision as discriminatory and in violation of Article 14 of the Constitution which grants equality before law.“The court is of the opinion that the stipulation of ‘two years of separated life’ for those to whom the Divorce Act applies, is in contra-distinction to those similarly placed under Section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act, Section 32 of Parsi Marriage Divorce Act and Section 28 of the Special Marriage Act would apply, offends the mandate of equality of right to life,” the court said.“The stipulation of two years of separated life can be severed and read down to one year to bring it to be in conformity with the provisions of other law to avoid unconstitutionality.” The court upheld the contention of the petitioners that Christians governed by the Divorce Act alone are discriminated while for Hindus and Parsis the time-limit fixed is one year.The court said that most modern jurisprudence recognises and accepts the right of spouses to get their marriage dissolved by mutual consent.The judgment was on a petition filed by Saumya Ann Thomas, Artie Comfort, Nalanda Road, PNG Junction, Thiruvananthapuram, challenging the order of the lower court that two years of separated life was mandatory for divorce.Saumya, who was married to Praveen Thomas in April 2008, started living separately the same year. The couple applied for divorce on mutual consent and also filed application to dispense with the waiting period.However, the lower court rejected the application citing legal issues. The High Court has set aside the order of the lower court and granted divorce to them.

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