Thursday | 16 January 2025 | Reg No- 06
বাংলা
   
Thursday | 16 January 2025 | Epaper

Divorce: A social curse in Bangladesh

Published : Thursday, 4 July, 2019 at 12:00 AM  Count : 501
PM Serajul Islam
PM Serajul Islam

PM Serajul Islam

Marriage is the very foundation of a society and no part of the laws and institutions of a country can be more importance to its subjects than those regulate the manner and conditions of forming and, if necessary, of dissolving, the marriage contract.

Firm union of the husband and wife is a necessary condition for a happy family life. Islam therefore, insists upon the subsistence of a marriage and prescribes that breach of marriage contract should be avoided. Initially no marriage is contracted to be dissolved but in unfortunate circumstances the matrimonial contract is broken. One of the ways of such dissolution is by way of divorce. Under Muslim law, the divorce may take place by the act of the parties themselves or by a decree of the court of law.

However, in whatever manner the divorce is effected it has not been regarded as a rule of life. In Islam, divorce is considered as an exception to the status of marriage. The Prophet declared that among the things which have been permitted by law, divorce is the worst. Divorce being an evil, it must be avoided as far as possible.

But in some occasions this evil becomes a necessity, because when it is impossible for the parties to the marriage to carry on their union with mutual affection and love then it is better to allow them to get separated than compel them to live together in an atmosphere of hatred and disaffection. The basis of divorce in Islamic law is the inability of the spouses to live together rather than any specific cause (or guilt of a party) on account of which the parties cannot live together.

It is sometimes suggested that the greatest defect of the Islamic system is the absolute power given to the husband to divorce his wife without cause. The reforms of Mohammed marked a new departure in the history of Eastern legislation. He restrained the power of divorce possessed by the husband; he gave to the women the right of obtaining a separation on reasonable grounds; and towards the end of his life he went so far as practically to forbid its exercise by the men without the intervention of arbiters or a judge. Prophet dislikes it most because it prevented conjugal happiness and interfered with the proper brining up the children.

In Bangladesh at present days the Divorce has become an issue dealing with all legal attempts at all its three stage; before Divorce Notice, at the statutory period of 90 days and after expiry of statutory period.
Divorce is the only legal way for terminating a Marriage other than act of God having its wide impact for a long sometimes even for life of not only the concern parties but the peoples connected with the immediate-past family. Simply, divorce gives birth of many issues mostly legal issues. Consequently legal proceedings in different courts and the divorce lawyers/ divorce attorneys are the faithful and confident friend to the peoples for safe way out from such complications. In Bangladesh at the present days divorce has its non-comparable proposition for either side of the separating couples which is not an outcome of the law or rules for Divorce itself but for some irrelevant issues.

The law and provisions for divorce as stated in the Muslim Family Law Ordinance, 1961 is the only codified law in Bangladesh dealing with the Muslims only. For the peoples of other religion like Christian and Buddhists there are different rules and laws but for the Hindus still there is no codified law in Bangladesh.

In the western world for divorce or separation the parties need lawyers or attorneys but so far in Bangladesh the parties do not always want to hire lawyers for divorce. Considering the economical and social aspect of Bangladesh it is still a long way far from the mutual separation or divorce like the first world though there is already law for mutual divorce.
Naturally, when one party wants to separate from his/her partner in a very few cases the other party accepts the same which turns into a relation obviously not anything positive and then the party having passive part in divorce tried to stop the separation. In Bangladesh the Divorce Lawyers have been asked a very common question before starting divorce process is whether his partner can file a criminal case against him or not. Giving divorce to his partner is a statutory right of the husband recognized in laws and the same is an unconstrained right.

As a matter of fact, in 90 per cent cases the husband served notice for divorce to his partner/wife. After being informed about divorce notice, wives initiated a criminal case against the notice sender and in all cases they didn't admit about the Notice by showing a date of occurrence before the date of notice.

In most of the time, the criminal cases have been filed before the learned Magistrate who sends major portion of cases to the concerned Police Stations with a direction for taking legal steps after inquiry or to record the same as First Information Report (FIR). The sufferers who are implicated such false cases under some common sections of Acts 2018 and 2000 for example section 3/4 of Act 2018 and section 11 of Act 2000 a single allegation of demanding dowry by the Notice sender Husband.
The process of divorce is very simple in Bangladesh just in three steps to divorce for both Husband and Wife (When power of giving Divorce has been delegated in the Kabin).

Giving notice for divorce is itself a presumption that the Dower Money (Maharana) has been paid in full but the fact is different as in most of the cases it has been revealed that portion or entire Den-mahr is unpaid and then it is the duty of the divorce lawyers to ensure payment of dower before completion of Divorce.

For the wives, three steps are applicable for divorce but practically and legally she is not in a position to pay any Dower Money to her Notice receiver Husband though she will be responsible for maintenance of her minor children.
Finally it is to be said that the process of divorce is merely an official process guided by the Ordinance-1961, but for smooth and safe ending of divorce process the person should have been advised to contact with your lawyer or an experienced Kaji but before starting such process make yourself sure that Divorce is the only and last way available for you to get rid.
Divorce of course, a social evil in itself, but it is a necessary evil. It is better to destroy the unity of the family than to destroy the future happiness of the parties by binding them to a companionship that has become odious. That's why Quran permits divorce partly because to enable men to get rid of an odious union.
 
It has shown in the dissertation that the judiciary has taken efforts to curb the practice of arbitrary, unilateral pronouncement of divorce by Muslim husbands, and affirmed the right of the woman to challenge such a divorce. There is no doubt that Muslim women have recourse to the courts to challenge arbitrary unilateral talaq, and hence arbitrary talaq becomes a non-issue if recourse to law is taken. However, many women are unable to take recourse to law due to lack of awareness, poverty, illiteracy, financial implications of litigation and community opposition against such a move.
How can the judgments impact women's lives, when women themselves, and the communities they live in, believe that they have been legally divorced? The challenge, then, is to educate women about the legal position and ensure their access to law, as well as to promote community awareness and acceptance of the law as stated through judgments.

The writer is lawyer in Bangladesh Supreme Court







LATEST NEWS
MOST READ
Also read
2019 marked a rise in border killings
China’s sea claims to face stiff test in 2020
India’s rising surge of ‘Hindu’ nationalism!
Renewable energy next important global power source
Is BD worried of Indian issues?
Single digit interest rate dilemma
The other side of growth and some thoughts for new year
Finance and more for SME
Editor : Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury
Published by the Editor on behalf of the Observer Ltd. from Globe Printers, 24/A, New Eskaton Road, Ramna, Dhaka.
Editorial, News and Commercial Offices : Aziz Bhaban (2nd floor), 93, Motijheel C/A, Dhaka-1000.
Phone: PABX- 41053001-06; Online: 41053014; Advertisement: 41053012.
E-mail: district@dailyobserverbd.com, news©dailyobserverbd.com, advertisement©dailyobserverbd.com, For Online Edition: mailobserverbd©gmail.com
🔝
close