The Issue of Divorce

been generally detrimental to individuals in Hindu society. When a man and a woman cannot satisfy one another, their lives are passed in great bitterness because there is no provision for remarriage. They are doomed to continue to live a tormented life alongside partners with whom they have nothing in common. I shall cite here only one of the hundreds and thousands of such instances reported in newspapers almost every day, leaving aside those unreported cases. Manu, 25, was a cousin of Khushwant Singh. He has written in detail about her tragedy in his “Malice” column. (The Hindustan Times, New Delhi, October 12, 1985.) Manu had a flourishing business selling ready-made garments in Los Angeles. As she did not want to marry a foreigner, she decided to come to India to find a husband and return to the States with him. She found her husband in a tall, handsome, powerfully built Hindu boy who was anxious to go abroad. The marriage took place with all pomp and splendour in a five-star hotel. It took her some months to arrange for her husband’s visa, during which time she maintained him and paid for his passage. The marriage was a disaster. The boy turned out to be an alcoholic, prone to violence, and averse to doing any work. Manu sought her parents’ consent to wind up her business, divorce her husband, and return to India. Her parents travelled to America and tried to persuade her not to be hasty. A few days after her mother returned to Delhi, Manu’s husband strangled her and dumped her body in a deserted spot. He collected all he could in the house and was planning to flee