MUMBAI: In a rare instance, a family court recently allowed a couple, married for 25 years, to

divorce

through mutual consent, without waiting for the mandatory

.

The couple, parents to two adults, had been living separately since 2014 and filed for divorce in September last year. With the waiving-off of the six-month period, the divorce came through in three months.

Granting their plea, the court said, "The parties have stated on oath that there is no dispute about giving or taking of streedhan articles. They have no claim of maintenance or property of whatsoever nature against each other. The statutory period of six months is waived off."

Advocate Nazim Hashim Yete who represented the former couple said that after the plea for divorce through mutual consent was filed, the 46-year-old husband came across a job opportunity abroad. Yete submitted in court that the husband would get a longer contract with the company, provided there were no dependants on him and at his age he did not want to lose the opportunity. The last date to apply for the job was January 20.

With the next court date for the divorce plea only in March, the husband moved a plea to waive off the balance three months. "We immediately moved the court and stressed on the importance of waving off the cooling-off period of three months which was balance in this case," Yete added.

The court also took into account the fact that the couple were separated for over a year. The court said that the couple had been referred to a marriage counsellor. The counsellor reported to the court that there was no possibility of a reunion between the couple. "This fact confirms that they have mutually agreed to dissolve their marriage and there is no possibility of reunion," the court said.

The former couple was married under the Special Marriage Act. They had submitted that for the last decade they had several quarrels and subsequently decided to separate. They further submitted that their marriage had broken down irretrievably and it was impossible for them to stay together.