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Church leaders angered by
divorce law amendments

The Union Cabinet on Thursday gave the nod to an amendment to the 1869 Indian Divorce Act, which had allowed Christian men to divorce their wives purely on grounds of adultery.

However, under the same Act, women needed to cite several additional reasons - besides adultery - including cruelty, bigamy or desertion, to get a divorce.

"While the churches and other groups have always welcomed the move to remove gender bias in the old divorce Act, we are very anxious at the moment about the bill," the Catholic Bishop's Conference of Indian said in a joint statement with the National Council of Churches in India.

"We do not know what the bill looks like in its final shape, whether anything new has been added or whether Christian women have really benefited," said the statement, which was also signed by the Joint Women's Programme.

The statement voiced surprise that the Church came to know only through newspaper reports that amendments to the Indian Divorce Act would be introduced in the coming session of Parliament.

"This came as a surprise because the bill concerns Christians and it is the Christian community that was not consulted," it said.

"We urge the government not to proceed with the proposed amendments without consulting the concerned people," the statement said.

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