726 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
provision for conversion of sacramental marriage into civil marriage. Sacrament is a sacrament. As has been originally suggested and as has been permitted by some of our old Smritikars, the rule of divorce should be limited within the narrowest possible bounds. With regard to this B. N. Rau’s position was this.
Impotency at the time of the marriage which has continued up to the date of divorce. This is a condition to which no reasonable person can object.
Then the person may have been an idiot and the fact may have been concealed. This is a second physical thing, which cannot be quarrelled with.
In addition to these two conditions, you can allow divorce when a person changes religion. A Hindu may become a Muslim and marry. Under the fiction in the Hindu law, law that the marriage is indissoluble and the sacrament still continues, the wife is helpless. On what principle can you do that when the husband has changed his religion and gone to another and married wives according to his new religion?
Shri Mahavir Tyagi : Would it not result in this that whenever a divorce is needed instead of undergoing the routine legal proceedings, people will change their religion?
Dr. Bakhshi Tek Chand : No, they won’t change their religion. In addition to the above conditions, you can add desertion of the woman for a certain period; call it five years, six years or seven years. These conditions are, I submit, nothing new. They were known to our ancient Smritikars. I feel that divorce should be limited to these three or four cases. Have we not seen cases in which the husband after marrying has abandoned his wife? Have these unfortunate women no remedy? They should have a remedy. But I would limit it to these three or four conditions. But do not introduce litigation. If it is a case of providing adultery, evidence can be faked. Some sort of collusive evidence can be produced and the charge proved. But I do want to introduce that in a sacramental marriage. My submission as in my minute of dissent is that the chapter relating to marriage and divorce should be recast. We have two kinds of Hindu marriages: the civil and the sacramental. In the one, you know the conditions under which it can be dissolved. In the other, you can have all your new modern ideas. I would ask the supporters of this Bill to give their serious consideration to it and see whether it improves the position of women. If my suggestions are accepted, it will make the present Bill much