Legal Service India

Sylhet Referendum, 1947

2011-12-08T21:07:00.000-08:00

Sylhet Referendum, 1947

N the wake of the Partition Assam lost one of her districts to Pakistan. Mountbatten’s partition-plan announced on 3 June 1947, provided inter-alia for a referendum to be held in the Sylhet district of Assam to decide whether it should remain a part of the Indian province of Assam or go to East Pakistan. The Sylhet referendum was held on 6 July 1947 and the result went in favour of a merger with Pakistan. Assam thus lost a wealthy district causing serious loss of revenue.

But the Assamese people in general greeted this loss and the Assam press projected it as a gain. This attitude, somewhat unusual in the context of the national aspiration of the period, has its origins in what can be called the long-cherished quest of the Assamese – carving out a homogenous province for themselves. The Assamese perceived the partition of 1947 as a god-sent opportunity to attain that goal. In fact, the Assamese Congress leaders were sowing the seeds for subsequent manoeuvres in this direction well before the partition plan was announced. Lord Wavell, the Viceroy, wrote in his journal as early as April 1946, that Gopinath Bordoloi, the Congress Premier of Assam, gave the Cabinet Mission to understand that ‘Assam would be quite prepared to hand over Sylhet to Eastern Bengal....

Children In Armed Conflict: Indian Perspective

2011-12-05T00:23:00.000-08:00

Children In Armed Conflict: Indian Perspective

Intellectual Property laws

2011-11-26T03:20:00.001-08:00

Consumer Laws in India

2011-11-26T03:19:00.000-08:00

Jurisdiction of Courts ought to be introduced under the RTI Act, 2005 for full compliance: An Analysis based on Analytical School of Jurisprudence

2011-11-25T23:15:00.000-08:00

Jurisdiction of Courts ought to be introduced under the RTI Act, 2005 for full compliance: An Analysis based on Analytical School of Jurisprudence

The Art of Giving - Corporate Social Responsibility in India

2011-11-25T21:47:00.000-08:00

The Art of Giving - Corporate Social Responsibility in India

Section 65 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 with special reference to Discharge of a Contract by Frustration

2011-11-25T21:46:00.000-08:00

Section 65 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 with special reference to Discharge of a Contract by Frustration

Competition Law vis-a-vis IPR rights

2011-11-25T21:45:00.000-08:00

Competition Law vis-a-vis IPR rights

Plea Bargaining - An Indian Approach

2011-11-24T02:18:00.000-08:00

Plea Bargaining - An Indian Approach

Black Money in Andhra Pradesh

2011-11-24T02:17:00.000-08:00

Black Money in Andhra Pradesh

Controversies on Euthanasia

2011-11-24T02:16:00.001-08:00

Controversies on Euthanasia

Nuisance: A Tort

2011-11-24T02:16:00.000-08:00

Nuisance: A Tort

Adv. P. N. Mishra & Associates

2011-11-24T02:15:00.000-08:00

Adv. P. N. Mishra & Associates

National Security & Preventive detention

2011-11-24T02:14:00.000-08:00

National Security & Preventive detention

Differences between Justification & Excuses And Mistakes, Necessity & Accidents as Defenses

2011-11-24T02:13:00.000-08:00

Differences between Justification & Excuses And Mistakes, Necessity & Accidents as Defenses

Lawyers - Advocates - Law Firms - Lawyers Directory

2011-08-25T22:59:00.000-07:00

Lawyers - Advocates - Law Firms - Lawyers Directory

Law Colleges - Law schools - Law Students

2011-08-25T22:56:00.000-07:00

Law Colleges - Law schools - Law Students

Health Care During Armed Conflict

2011-08-25T22:54:00.000-07:00

Health Care During Armed Conflict

Law Blogs

2011-03-23T20:36:00.000-07:00

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Protection of Women from Domestic Violence

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The tax you should be paying

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On-line Legal Dispute Resolution

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Supreme Court let off three gang rapists

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Solemnization of foreign marriages in India

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liability of network service providers / intermediaries, for the offence of
cyber pornography

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Where exactly is the line drawn between contraception and abortion?

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When did abortion come to be recognized as proper on medical grounds?

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Where a pregnancy is terminated on the ground of risk of injury to health, how
great must the risk be to justify the termination?

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2011-03-23T20:27:00.000-07:00

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Legal maxim

2009-08-22T04:16:00.000-07:00

A Legal Maxim is an established principle or proposition. The Latin term, apparently a variant on maxima, is not to be found in Roman law with any meaning exactly analogous to that of a legal maxim in the Medieval or modern sense of the word, but the treatises of many of the Roman jurists on Regular definitions, and Sententiae juris are, in some measure, collections of maxims. Most of the Latin maxims developed in the Medieval era in European countries that used Latin as their language for law and courts.
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A mensa et thoro - From bed and board.

A vinculo matrimonii - From the bond of matrimony.

Ab extra - From outside.

Ab initio - From the beginning.

Absoluta sententia expositore non indiget - An absolute judgment needs no expositor.

Abundans cautela non nocet - Abundant caution does no harm.
Click on this link: http://www.legalserviceindia.com/historicalcases/legal_maxims.htm

Wills

2007-12-13T04:07:00.000-08:00

A Will is a
document which ensures that your wishes with respect to your assets and property
are followed after your death.
There Often arises problems and complications
when a person dies without a Will. Yet we put off making a Will, not realizing
the predicament we put our family in, after our death. It's a little effort that
goes a long way. You will find the answers to the questions you may have had on
making your Will, registering it and other relevant information.

size=2>Definitions:
face="arial, verdana" size=2>A class=blackbold>Will is defined as "the
legal declaration of the intention of the testator, with respect to his
property, which he desires to be carried into effect after his death." In other
words, a Will or a Testament means a document made by person whereby he disposes
of his property, but such disposal comes into effect only after the death of the
testator.

class=blackbold>Codicil is an
instrument made in relation to a Will, explaining, altering or adding to its
dispositions and is deemed to be a part of the Will.

class=blackbold>Executorcolor=#996633> is the legal representative for all purposes of a deceased
person (testator) and all the property of a testator vests in him.

class=blackbold>Legatee/Beneficiary is
a person who inherits the property under a Will.

class=blackbold>Probate is a copy of
the Will, certified under the seal of a competent Court.

class=blackbold>Testator is a person
making a Will and executing it

To read More click on the link:

http://www.legalserviceindia.com/wills.htm

Constitution Of india

2007-03-23T07:19:00.000-07:00

Legality Of Foreign aims to study the binding nature of the foreign judgments i.e. judgments given by the courts in foreign countries and the scope and object of section 13 of CP।C.

http://www.legalservicesindia.com/articles/fore.htm

Austianinan Concept Of Sovereignty:
Austin places the notion of sovereignty at the basis of his theory of law. Austin borrowed फ्रॉम...
http://www.legalservicesindia.com/articles/sover.htm

Sustainable Development and Indian Judiciary:Right to wholesome environment is a fundamental right protected under Article 21 of the Constitution...
http://www.legalserviceindia।com/articles/jud.htm

Right to die- " To be or not to be?"
The care of human life and happiness and not their destruction is the first and only legitimate object ऑफ़...
http://www.legalservicesindia.com/articles/die.htm

Doctrine Of Constitutional Tort:
Under the English Common Law the maxim was "The King can do no wrong" and therefore, the King was not liable http://www.legalservicesindia.com/articles/dct.htm

Nature Of The Indian Constitution: Judicial Exposition:
The Constitution of India is not an end but a means to an end, not mere democracy as a political project but a ...
http://www.legalservicesindia.com/articles/c1onst.htm

Writ Of Habeas Corpus For Securing Liberty: The concept of writ essentially originated in England & to issue appropriate writ was always considered to be a prerogative of the crown.....
http://www.legalserviceindia.com/articles/wha.htm

Dual Citizenship:
The status of being a citizen of a specific nation state, signifies a person’s legal status and carries with it numerous consequences.....
http://www.legalserviceindia.com/articles/dual_cet.htm

More on Indian Constitution click on the Link below:http://www.legalserviceindia.com/constitution/const_home.htm

2007-03-19T23:30:00.000-07:00

Lawyers Directory:Delhi - Delhi-2 - Kolkata - Mumbai - Mumbai-2 - Chennai - Bangalore - Hyderabad - Allahabad - Pune - Ahmedabad - Nagpur - Cochin - Chandigarh - Gurgaon - Jaipur - Ludhiana

Villains Of The Millennium

2007-01-17T07:40:00.000-08:00

Tamerlane (Timur):
Tamerlane's life (c. 1336-1405) was spent conquering the inhabitants of Asia. A Turkik Mongol, his goal was to...

Ivan the Terrible (Ivan IV):
On January 16, 1547, Ivan became the first czar of Russia, ruling until 1584....

Maximillien Robespierre
:
Robespierre was the mastermind of the Reign of Terror (1793-1794), the dark underside of the French Revolution.....

Joseph Stalin:
Totalitarian leader of the U.S.S.R. from 1929-53, Stalin crushed the Soviet peoples with his ...

Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-tung):
A despotic ideologue who controlled China from 1949-76, Mao subjected the Chinese

Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier:
Up to 60,000 Haitians died under the 1957-71 reign of Duvalier, and millions were ...

Nicolae Ceausescu:
Running a neo-Stalinist police state from 1967-89, Nicolae Ceausescu wound the iron ....

Idi Amin:
Brutally authoritarian president of Uganda from 1971-79, Idi Amin oversaw the torture and murder of an estimated 300,000 of his own people....

Pol Pot:
Radical Marxist leader of Cambodia from 1975-79, who butchered his own people. The four years of nightmarish....

Cyber Crime - Internet laws

2007-01-04T22:43:00.001-08:00

The Menace Of Cyber CrimeIn the information age the rapid development of computers, telecommunications and other technologies has led to the evolution of new forms of trans-national crimes.....

Cyber-Elections
Its in-serverability has grown to such heights that perhaps George Bernard Shaw would have expressed as ‘Cyber-web here, cyber-web there, and cyber-web everywhere".....

Defamation on the web: Who do you sue?The law of defamation addresses harm to a person's reputation or good name through slander and libel.....

Cyber-Crime Hardships To Curb It
Crime is an act or omission, which is prohibited by the law particularly criminal. Cyber-Crime is the latest and perhaps the most specialized and dynamic field in cyber-laws......

Cyber Ethics
In legal phraseology and prospectus are very wide terms and very much intermingled. These cannot be confined by......

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Retaled links:
hhttp://www.legalserviceindia.com/cyber/cyber.htm

ARTICLES ON VARIOUS ISSUES ON THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA

2006-12-28T21:28:00.000-08:00

Constitutional Background
The constitution was passed by the Constituent Assembly on 26 Nov 1949 and is fully applicable since 26 Jan 1950...

Supreme Court the Final Pedestal of Justice:
A law may be defined as an assemblage of signs, declarative of a volition, conceived or adopted by the sovereign in a stage...

Constitution-Judicial Democracy:
Judiciary is that branch of government that interprets the laws or says what the laws mean & democracy means a form of government...

Doctrine Of Basic Structure (Constitutional Law):
It is very difficult to state a single and accurate definition of the term ? has different connotations for different people.....

Racism - Society's Cancer:
Racism refers to beliefs, practices, and institutions that negatively discriminate against people based on their perceived or ascribed
race....

Dual Citizenship:
The status of being a citizen of a specific nation state, signifies a person's legal status and carries with it numerous consequences....

Writ Of Habeas Corpus For Securing Liberty:
The concept of writ essentially originated in England & to issue appropriate writ was
always considered to be a prerogative of the crown.....

Nature Of The Indian Constitution: Judicial Exposition:
The Constitution of India is not an end but a means to an end, not mere democracy as a political project but a socio-juridical...

Doctrine Of Constitutional Tort:
Under the English Common Law the maxim was "The King can do no wrong" and therefore, the King was not liable for...

Right to die- " To be or not to be?"
The care of human life and happiness and not their destruction is the first and only legitimate object of good governance...

Sustainable Development and Indian Judiciary:
Right to wholesome environment is a fundamental right protected under Article 21 of the Constitution of India...

Austianinan Concept Of Sovereignty:
Austin places the notion of sovereignty at the basis of his theory of law. Austin borrowed from...

Legality Of Foreign JudgmentsThe article/paper aims to study the binding nature of the foreign judgments i.e. judgments given by the courts in foreign countries and
the scope and object of section 13 of C.P.C.

Legal Outsourcing in India - A Billion Dollar Prospect

2006-12-26T06:34:00.000-08:00

India's lawyers are fast becoming a darling for US and UK-based law firms. Legal eagles of United States and England are apparently taking comfort from the country's elaborate, British-modeled legal structure, which they want to exploit for paralegal work and research support.
In the US alone, the potential for such outsourcing orders could be as high as $2 billion annually, most of which could land in India, estimates Legal Service India one of India’s most successful legal Outsourcing Firm. Top 200 US law firms spend about $20 billion annually on office operations and documentation, a cost they cut via outsourcing for the sake of operational efficiencies.

Legal services are thus beginning to join a swelling list of functions-customer contact, transaction services, debt collection, and payroll processing. The West is looking to migrate to the subcontinent. And, similar to the earliest suite of services sent offshore, legal support may mean attractive deals for local Law firms and independent lawyers marketing themselves as the world's back office.

India's pool of poorly paid lawyers can offer US and UK-based law firms’ savings of as much as 40-60 percent in documentation, research, and drafting of case. The savings depend on the type of the service outsourced.

It is estimated that support services are a substantial cost factor for the top 200 US law firms. For example, American Law firms typically spend $2.9 million annually on word processing and secretarial jobs alone. The budget for legal recruiting is $350 million and human resources departments can cost $200 million. The supplier, which last year won a $52 million investment from private-equity firm Francisco Partners Management LLC, is one of the US suppliers tapping into Indian talent for servicing corporate America's legal services needs.
Assuming a very conservative outsourcing potential of 10 percent (of the $20 billion spent by US law companies on office operations), the resulting market opportunity is about $2 billion. Of this, India will have the largest share, offering both transactional and high-end services, says the executives from Legal Service India, whose Indian operations are based in 14 cities.
What is interesting for India is that within the British Commonwealth, there are 54 countries that have similar legal processes. This fits into the whole idea of knowledge process outsourcing.
Early MoversMuch like Legalserviceindia.com offers the "office next door" to legal wings of US companies and law firms. The company deals largely in patent and trademark paralegals for its UK clients and supports them with research, documenting, and database services; they run a night shift in India to provide its clients with an "always on" service.
India's lower salary base allows, US Legal Companies to get their work done at $20-$40 an hour, significantly less than the $100-$250 an hour that companies charge for similar services in the US. The real trend is that many US legal departments of major corporations are realizing the value of using offshore resources. They are looking at the full spectrum of services from data entry to sophisticated analysis.

The size of the patent drafting and support services market potential is $50 million a year. Most of that comes to India. The demand is helping the law companies grow, which wills more than double in a year. Law Firms like Legal Service India has been exclusively doing high-end work, such as drafting complex legal briefs that are submitted in US courts. They have written legal briefs for all kinds of cases-from dog bites and divorces to medical malpractice, trademark, and federal securities. As a result more and more law firms around the country are following their lead.

Hiring Indian LawyersIn countless courts spread across India, hundreds of cases come up each day for hearing, with vast armies of lawyers probing the progress of their long-to-conclude arguments. The vast majority of these lawyers does not make it to the top of the professional pyramid and are scouting for meaningful employment. That means very few of the 298,000 law school graduates joining the pool annually can aspire to participate in high-profile civil or criminal cases.

The cavernous stone corridors of Indian law courts could emerge as the recruiting campuses for outsourcing companies looking to hire legal professionals. The upcoming lawyer can make big time money.

Some WorriesThe opportunities are immense, but India needs to move cautiously, weeding out practices that may raise concerns over data security and service quality in buyers' markets according to industry members. Although India now has joined the elite League of Nations with a WTO-compliant patents system, intellectual property and data may not always be tamper-proof within Indian Territory.

Lawyers also have other issues such as rationalizing any conflict of interests. Since Lawyers cannot represent two businesses on opposing sides of a legal dispute unless both sides waive the conflict of interest prohibition. That could impact their ability to outsource. For the time being, suppliers and buyers will have to be content with paralegal work being performed in India in a win-win situation for all.

When you need to outsource your legal work www.legalserviceindia.com is the place.

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SOME USEFUL ARTICLES ON LEGAL OUTSOURCING:

"WNS bets on legal outsourcing"
16 Nov 2006 by estrin2003 - References
"Riding high on the legal process outsourcing wave, WNS has started legal services in Sri Lanka about eight months back and now has over 30 lawyers there. It has also scaled up the existing Pune operations, with more than 80 lawyers to ...

Assorted Talks
3 hours ago by Marshall Jevons
Outsourcing legal services. Where to? Where else but India – a country with literally 1 million lawyers and 70000 law graduates each year. The Americans are right into it. By 2015 it's estimated that 80000 jobs in the American legal ...

New site manages legal outsourcing
27 Nov 2006 by Robert Ambrogi
A Web site scheduled to launch tomorrow is designed to help lawyers -- particularly those in smaller firms -- outsource work to legal-support freelancers. The site, LawSourcing, facilitates the process of hiring outside help to perform ...

Developments in Legal Outsourcing and Offshoring26 Nov 2006 by LegalEase Solutions LLC
Two trends sparked our interest. First was a spate of articles about law firms and departments outsourcing legal work. Second was a seemingly rapid rise in the number of offshore companies offering legal outsourcing services. ...

Legal outsourcing market sounds lucrative
23 Nov 2006
According to Forrester Research the global legal services market is worth $260 billion whereas US alone stands for $160 billion of the basket. Puneet Mohey, president of one of the newly formed legal process outsourcing (LPO) firms, ...

Developments in Legal Outsourcing and Offshoring27 Nov 2006 by Ron (mailto:ron@prismlegal.com)
Joy London and I maintain a list of legal market outsourcing and offshoring. In connection with our October update of the list, we wrote an article, Developments in Legal Outsourcing and Offshoring, published in LLRX.com (11/12/06) ...

Probity in Governance

2006-02-08T01:13:00.000-08:00

Before 325 BC Socrates said” knowledge is virtue knowledge promotes virtue " knowledge was something which inform not only the mind but also the soul .It influences the human character and conduct .as a matter of fact one cannot be virtuous without knowledge but today in our society knowledge is a rare commodity and the knowledgeable person is few and far between. Keeping in socratarian tradition Aristotle said in similar vein "it is better for a city to be governed by a good man than even by good laws ". Down the line the British Prime Minister had once said "when men are pure laws are useless, when men are corrupt laws are broken.” the British Education System did lot of harm to the people of india and even after independence the country followed the British legacy to a great extent. Sir Wavell, admitted when he said, "we have done worse in the field of education, because we have given Indians the education of letter and not of character". Law cannot wipe out the offences overnight but over a period of time it can prevent more blatant abuses .It is impossible to eliminate corruption is firmly rooted in our character. But, it can be reduced to a great extent if sincere effort is taken.
If we analyse, examine and scrutinize the power and composition of the three wings of the state namely a) legislature b) executive c) judiciary we can find out the system of diseases that exist in our system.
a) Legislature If we look to the composition of parliament we shall feel frustrated to see that only 10% of the parliamentarians can be considered to be able and competent parliamentarians in the house of more than 500 members. The rest 10% members are of doubtful and dubious character and a great majority of the members are illiterate goons with criminal backgrounds. There is no minimum qualification prescribed for the parliamentarians. One can imagine what can be the contribution by this law making body towards legislation. I still remember when an important legislation of Shah Bano case could not be passed in one city due to lack of corum. However, the bill had to be passed after getting the members present by whip.
b) Executive The executive power infact though exercised by the electorate body, the real power rests with the civil servants who are called "departmental experts." these experts belong to all India services like IAS. There are 3 types of IAS namely
I) Who are recruited by merit by conducting competitive examinationII) The second class IAS belong to the sc/st andIII) third category belongs to nominated IAS .
they may be from all these categories because of the diverse composition . There exist clash of conflicts among themselves, in the process the purpose of the legislation is lost in squabble between real and unreal and the act takes place in the backburner. Being not implemented properly for the reasons aforesaid the suggestion is put forward for further amendment of the act. Our constitution has been amended 53 times in 36 yrs and that of the USA only 26 amendments in 198 yrs
c) Judiciary According to the SC Advocate On Record VS. Union Of India and others (AIR 1994 sc 268) the judges used to be appointed on merit which should be the predominant: this decision has been further extended by a decision on presidential reference case reported in AIR 1999 S.C.1, wherein it was held that the opinion of the chief justice of india so given has privacy in the matter of all appointments but it is doubtful whether those decisions are followed in practise or not. There is regular interference of the political leaders, as a result the merit takes backseat. I know about a brilliant lawyer whose name was recommended by the chief justice of the high court supported by two senior judges as per the provision of the decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court. However, though all formalities have been completed but he was not appointed for political interference. It cannot be said that merit is a pre-dominant consideration. In the lower judiciary 90% of the presiding officers are corrupt who owe allegiance to their political master, who are their appointing authority in disguise. It is said by a renowned journalist "that the law is up for grabs and justice knocked down to the highest bidder". The corruption is rooted in the marrow of the people. It is difficult to wipe out totally from the society wherein the germ of corruption is embedded firmly.
The lawyer who is a part of the judiciary plays a pivotal role. The less one speaks about them the better. Shakespeare called most of the lawyers 'leeches' who are only busy fithering their own nest. Nowadays their contribution towards the service of people is very insignificant. The free legal aid Scheme does not properly benefit the society due to the fact that good lawyers are not engaged in free legal aid cases.
The very important case in point in respect of the executive malpractices is a case between P.V.Narasimha Rao Vs State (CBI reported in AIR 1998 SC 2120) wherein) Hon'ble Supreme Court held that "a member of parliament against whom there is a prima facie case of corruption should be immune from prosecution in the court of law is to my mind an unacceptable proposition at the present time. I do not believe it to be the law "
The corrupt public servant should be dealt with severely so that they cannot escape punishment. Property acquired through illegal means should be confiscated and the persons concerned should be removed from service through due process of law. The existing law such as Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act are sufficient to deal with the corruption cases.

More on this topic.... Log on To http://www.legalserviceindia.com

Divorce Laws In India

2006-02-08T01:05:00.000-08:00

All major religions have their own laws which govern divorces within their own community, and separate regulations exist regarding divorce in interfaith marriages. Hindus, including Buddhists, Sikh

Grounds for Divorce
In most Western nations, there are approximately 16 distinct reasons for which divorces are granted. In India, however, only five main reasons are generally accepted as sufficient grounds for divorce (Choudhary 90).

Adultery. While no formal definition of adultery exists, it does have "a fairly established meaning in matrimonial law" (Diwan 171), namely "the voluntary sexual intercourse of a married man or woman with a person other than the offender's wife or husband" (Choudhary 91). While the law considers it valid grounds for either sex, adulterous women are "judged more harshly" than men (Kapur and Cossman 102). The various religious regulations a e not unanimous on this issue. The law regarding Hindus allows divorce to be granted on the grounds of infidelity of either husband or wife. The Christian law, however, would traditionally not have granted a divorce to a woman solely on the grounds of adultery. She would have had to prove another violation, such as cruelty (Kapur and Cossman 102-4). A recent Bombay High Court decision "recognised cruelty and desertion as independent grounds for the dissolution of a Christian marriage," striking down a section of the law that allowed for an unconstitutional distinction between the sexes (Raiker-Mhatre 1).

Desertion. The three main components of desertion are the "disruption of cohabitation, absence of just or reasonable cause and their combination throughout three years" before the abandoned spouse may petition for a divorce (Virdi 71). There also must be an obvious intent on the part of the offending spouse to remain permanently apart from the other. This statute also applies to cases in which a spouse has been heard from for at least seven years (Choudhary 91).

Cruelty. As with adultery, "the definition of the type of behavior that constitutes cruelty varies according to the gender of the petitioner" of the divorce. "Despite the fact that cruelty is often equally available to husbands and wives, the way in which the law is interpreted and applied suggests that women and men are evaluated by rather different standards" (Kapur and Cossman 105). This category includes both physical and mental abuse and neglect (Choudhary 91). A court decision made in early May 1997 made cruelty sufficient grounds for a Christian woman to obtain a; previously, the law required both adultery and cruelty to be proven. The national Indian Christian community seems to have embraced this judgment (Raikar-Mhatre 1-2.

Impotency. This refers to the physical inability of the couple to consummate the marriage (Choudhary 91) or the refusal by one spouse to do so (Diwan 136). Some cases have established that sterility can be construed to mean non-consummation if the other partner is not aware of the condition before the marriage (Diwan 139).

Chronic Disease. Both mental and physical illnesses are included in this category, as well as sexually transmitted diseases (Choudhary 92). Not all religions recognize identical diseases as grounds for divorce. Christians and Parsis do not allow divorce for a sexually transmitted disease or leprosy while the other communities do (Diwan 204-5).

Consequences of Divorce
Economic. There is great disparity between the economic ramifications of divorce between men and women. Men remain relatively unaffected while women, especially those with children, have difficulty "providing food, clothing and shelter for themselves and their children." The government in urban areas usually provides some form of public assistance to single mothers, but this service is not fully taken advantage of because most do not know of its existence (Amato 210). Often a woman is not able to rely on her family for support because many parents "feel they have discharged their obligations to a daughter by arranging her marriage and providing a dowry." Dowries are not returned after a divorce. Also, due to the social stigma of divorce, women find it difficult to remarry and usually attempt to establish an independent household (Amato 211).

Social. While India feels that one should have the right to divorce, it is still a highly stigmatizing action. Women are looked upon more harshly than men in this regard. There continue to be segments of Indian society that feel divorce is never an option, regardless of how abusive or adulterous the husband may be which adds to the greater disapproval for women. A divorced woman often will return to her family, but may not be wholeheartedly welcomed. She puts, especially if she has children, an economic burden on her family and is often given lowly household tasks to perform. There is also the risk that a divorced woman's presence would ward off possible marriages for other daughters within the household. Unavoidably, the overall status of the family and household are lowered by having a divorcee living with amongst them. A woman's class and caste are a major factor in her acceptance back into society. Women from higher classes tend to have an easier time than middle or lower class women in returning to the social order after a divorce. An exception to this model is the extreme bottom of the society who have experienced little rebuff from peers after a divorce. This results from their already atypical status in society (Amato 212-4).