Divorce — Wife-Specific Ground, Section 13(2)(iii) HMA · 11 May 2026
Jitender Singh v. Union of India: Supreme Court Dismisses Plea Seeking Gender Parity in Section 13(2)(iii) Hindu Marriage Act
Supreme Court of India · W.P.(C) No. 460/2026
A litigant appearing in person filed a public interest petition under Article 32 challenging Section 13(2)(iii) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, which allows only a wife to seek divorce where a maintenance decree has been passed against the husband and cohabitation has not resumed for a year or more. He argued the remedy should be open to both husbands and wives. On being asked by the Bench why the provision troubled him, he said he was himself a party to a matrimonial dispute.
A Bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi dismissed the petition at the hearing. Justice Bagchi observed that the provision is a special law for women protected by Article 15(3) of the Constitution, and that any change would have to come through amendment. The Bench cautioned against using Article 32 to settle personal disputes, and while it recognised the petitioner might have genuine grievances, it declined to entertain the challenge. This was an oral dismissal of a petition filed by a personal litigant, not a detailed reasoned judgment on the provision's validity.
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