The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c20.3

c20.3

P. 442, l. 30. Dr. G. V. Deshmukh, M.L.A., has given notice of introducing Hindu Women's Right of Divorce Bill in the Central Assembly during the autumn session of 1938. As suggested in the book (p. 104), the bill seeks to make the remedy of divorce available only to the wife. Impotency, change of religion, desertion for three years and marriage with another woman are the causes for which the bill proposes to empower a wife to demand a divorce. It will be noticed that Parāśara's famous verse, quoted at p. 180, n. 3, allows a re-marriage, and therefore a divorce also, for most of the causes specified in the bill.