Divorce and Divorce Law in Bangladesh

In Bangladesh at a present days the Divorce has become an issue dealing with all legal attempts at all its three stage; before Divorce Notice, at the statutory period of 90 days and after expiry of statutory period.
Divorce is the only legal way for terminating a Marriage other than act of God having its wide impact for a long sometimes even for life of not only the concern parties but the peoples connected with the immediate-past family. Simply divorce gives birth of many issues mostly legal issues consequently legal proceedings in different courts and the divorce lawyers/ divorce attorneys are the faithful and confident friend to the peoples for safe way out from such complications. In Bangladesh at the present days divorce has its non-comparable proposition for either side of the separating couples which is not an outcome of the law or rules for Divorce itself but for some extraneous issues.

The law and provisions for divorce as stated in the Muslim Family Law Ordinance, 1961 is the only codified law in Bangladesh dealing with the Muslims only. For the peoples of other religion like Christian and Buddhists there are different rules and laws but for the Hindus still there is no codified law in Bangladesh. The rules for marriage and divorce has been regulated by the legislative enactment proclaimed on considering as well as taking the personal laws on account for the Muslims called Shariah Ain. In the western world for divorce or separation the parties need lawyers or attorneys but so far in Bangladesh the parties do not always want to hire lawyers for divorce. Considering the economical and social aspect of Bangladesh it is still a long way far from the mutual separation or divorce like the first world though there is already law for mutual divorce.

Naturally when one party wants to separate from his/her partner in a very few cases the other party accepts the same which turns into a relation obviously not anything positive and then the party having passive part in divorce tried to stop the separation. In Bangladesh the Divorce Lawyers have been asked a very common question before starting divorce process is whether his partner can file a criminal case against him or not. Giving divorce to his partner is a statutory right of the husband recognized in laws and the same is an unconstrained right.

Those lawyers who are practicing family matters under the Family Court Ordinance, 1985 are introduced as Divorce Lawyers but none in Bangladesh are exclusively practice only Divorce Proceedings so divorce lawyers generally means the lawyers practicing family matters. There are very few law chambers or firms in Dhaka practicing family matters among those Lawyers Bangladesh is one of leading Family Law practitioner in Bangladesh. In our country most of the Divorce or family matters involved with the issues of maintenance, dower and some other issues criminal in nature. When we discussed the Divorce issues it is important to have a light on the issues relating Nari-O- Shishu Nirjatan Daman Ain, 2000 and Dowry Prohibition Act, 1980.

As a matter of fact in 90% cases where the husband served notice for divorce his partner/wife after being informed about the Divorce Notice initiated a criminal case against the notice sender and in all cases they didn’t admit about the Notice by showing a date of occurrence before the date of notice. Most of the time the criminal cases have been filed before the learned Magistrate who sends major portion of cases to the concerned Police Stations with a direction for taking legal steps after inquiry or to record the same as First Information Report (FIR). The sufferers who are implicated such false cases under some common sections of Acts 1980 and 2000 for example section 3 / 4 of Act 1980 and section 11 of Act 2000 a single allegation of demanding dowry by the Notice sender Husband.

The process of divorce is very simple in Bangladesh just in three steps to divorce for both Husband and Wife (When power of giving Divorce has been delegated in the Kabin) wanting separation:

i. Give Notice in writing;
ii. Face the Arbitration Board (Appeared or not don’t matter); and
iii. After expiry of 90 days take a registration certificate from a registered Nikah Registrar (Kaji).

Giving notice for divorce is itself a presumption that the Dower Money (Mohrana) has been paid in full but the fact is different as in most of the cases it has been revealed that portion or entire Den-mohr is unpaid and then it is the duty of the divorce lawyers to ensure payment of dower before completion of Divorce. One thing is also important at the time of initiating divorce process that is to inform the client about paying three months maintenance (Iddat) to the wife and other maintenance for the children, in this regard to avoid court proceedings the lawyer should have to communicate with the notice receiver side and all through try for negotiate all these monetary issues. For the wife above said three steps are applicable for divorce but practically and legally she is not in a position to pay any Dower Money to her Notice receiver Husband though she will be responsible for maintenance of her minor children. Finally it is to be said that the process of divorce is merely an official process guided by the Ordinance, 1961 but for smooth and safe ending of divorce process the person should have been advised to contact with your lawyer or an experienced Kaji but before starting such process make yourself sure that Divorce is the only and last way available for you to get rid.