Irretrievable Breakdown of Marriage (IrBM) Bill - What does it mean?

Since August last year, there had been multiple protests to IrBM by various Mens’ Rights groups all over India. And these protests still continue as the Govt of India has totally ignored the voice of such men and women, and continued with the process of passing this Bill as a Law to the Rajya Sabha. This Bill, allegedly forced by the National Commission for Women (NCW) has so far had the sane and aware population of India in a stir, especially the married and soon-to-be-married males.

So, what exactly is the IrBM? And, why should the average married man condemn this Bill, along with his family, friends, and relatives?

Some of the important aspects of the IrBM are:

1. Wife can file a No-Fault Divorce, that is, Speedy Divorce (Husband does not have any fault, but the marriage has broken and cannot be retrieved), and the Husband CANNOT oppose it. If a husband files for a No-Fault Divorce, the Wife can oppose it.

-> The basic Right to Justice given by the Indian Constitution is being taken back from the Husbands in India.

2. The minimum tenure for a Divorce by Mutual Consent, which was 6 months- 18 months earlier, has now been increased to 3 years.

-> If you can give divorce through the courts in 1 day, why increase the tenure for MCD? This clearly looks to be a staged conspiracy to motivate the gold-digging women to directly go to the courts and seize the husband’s property, rather than going on the path of having a peaceful divorce mutually.

3. With a speedy divorce, the husband’s property is divided equally between the husband and the wife, not considering how many more family members the husband has. 

-> The husband will be forced to hand over to the wife:

a. Minimum 50% of his NET WORTH (his own moveable and immoveable property)

b. 50% of his inherited property (Inherited from his parents or ancestors)

c. 50% of his inheritable property (Property that he MAY or MAY NOT inherit from his parents in the future).

d. 50% of his lifetime earnings (The Net Salary he can earn over his entire life until 60 years of age. This earning by the wife will be exempted by Income Tax Dept, and the entire tax is payable by the husband).

e. If the husband cannot provide any of the above at the time of the divorce, the court will give him a few months for the same, and in case the property cannot be divided, then the husband will have to pay the wife IN CASH, the monetary value of the entire property.

       i. The financial liabilities of the husband will not be considered. Only assets are divided, not the liabilities (Loan disbursements, family expenditure, etc)

       ii. The wife’s contribution to the marriage is not considered. Whether the wife had helped the husband to earn the money during the course of marriage, will not be considered anymore.

        iii. The duration of marriage is not considered. The wife can file for divorce even after 1 day of marriage.

       iv. Financial position of the wife and her family is not considered. Even if the wife is more affluent than the husband, she still gets 50% of the husband’s and his ancestors’ hard-earned money. It is justified to give to the wife, part of the husband’s property, but have the ancestors done any wrong in passing over the property to their sons? Don’t you think this will lead to male genocide, as people would prefer to have girl child, and not boys, who would ultimately hand over their hard earned property to a girl!

Following are the arguments put forth in the various News Channels’ Talk shows, to support this Bill, mainly by NCW and other feminists, vis-à-vis the facts:

Faminists:    Poverty is a gender issue and primarily, all women in India are poor

Fact:      Two most important features of poverty are Malnutrition and Substandard healthcare (or access to them).

i.                     Average Life Expectancy of Females in India – 65. For males, it is 62

ii.                    WHO Data shows the following figures for deaths due to diseases:

Males – 880 per 100,000, Females – 780 per 100,000

Feminists:    Price of Love and care must be paid back to the wife

Fact:   How can you monetize Love and care? The feminists now want every marriage to be nothing more than a financial transaction. As the women provide love and care to the husband, the husband also does the same to his wife. Why would the same the price not be paid back to the husband too?

Feminists:    Parents do not give any property to their daughters in this patriarchal society

Fact:      If parents don’t give property to their daughters, why burden the husbands?

Feminists:    Women give birth to babies, hence it is just alright for them to ask for husbands and in-laws’ property

Fact:      All over the world, for all the mammals it is imperative that the females give birth when their eggs are fertilized by the male sperms. This is how nature has made them. Asking for the husband’s property for this reason is plain senseless

Feminists:    India has a Male-Dominated society, and every woman needs husband’s property to survive in this society

Fact:      How do you define domination on facts and figures? I though the most important aspect one can have is the no. of voters. As per 2009 data released by Election Commission of India, 45.8% of all votes in the country were laid by men, and 54.2 % by women.

Feminists:    Single Women are not allowed to rent houses in any city

Fact:      This is absurd. I have seen in many states that families and single women are allowed to rent apartments in all areas, while in most of the areas, bachelors and single fathers are not allowed. Besides, if that is a problem, then make amendments in the Society Housing acts, why take the property from husband’s ancestors?

Feminism in India is not about equality anymore. Photo Courtesy: Allvoices

Feminists:    For the past 5000 years, women were treated like second-class citizens in India

Fact:      Don’t tell me what was there 5000 years ago. At that time, there were no human rights commissions, there were no courts of law, etc. As on date, women are more endowed than men, with reservations in almost every possible field, and they are sharing the roads equally with men, if not dominating the workplaces. If you get a call on your cellphone now, you receive the call now itself. Not after 5 days!!!

So, you can very well see on what grounds the NCW has forced this Bill on to the Govt. Do you still support it? Can you still stay calm?

Finally, what should we, as sane citizens of India, should demand from the Government:

1. ROLLBACK IrBM in all forms. We already have multiple draconian laws in the country like 498A, DV, etc. We don’t want anymore.

2. Replace “wife/ husband” with “Spouse”. Make the law gender-neutral. If one party files a case, the other should be ABLE TO OPPOSE or CONTEST.

3. Remove “Inheritable Property” from the Bill. No one can say today if a man would give his property to his one son or the other, after 20 years. What if he says he might give and he doesn’t? Will the wife return the money then?

4. Mutual Consent Divorce tenure should be reduced to 3-6 months. In this fast life, no one really waits for another, and with so much pressure on everyone’s lives, why increase the burden to make them WAIT. If something cannot be fixed in 6 months, it won’t be fixed in 3 years as well. Rather, let the two parties walk off happily into their own realms, rather than make them wait and pay for their decision to have a peaceful divorce. 

And finally, I would really want to ask the NCW and the radical Feminist Groups in India, "If you want the wives to be empowered, why don't you ask them to have their own lives with their own income and not be dependent on the husbands? Instead of looting the husbands, why can't you ask the wives to work towards earning money? Would you do the same if your sons get married to such radical women, or, would you force the Govt to pass another law that would then protect your sons?"

Sources: Stand Up For a Cause, The Times of India, 498a.org, Lawyers' Club India, National Commission for Women, IBN Live, NDTV