Couple Divorces via the Internet

In what's perhaps the first-of-its-kind legal procedure in India, a Chennai court on Wednesday granted divorce to a couple, both software engineers, after confirming their consent over webcam.

The divorce order was sent to the man in the US, and the woman, who is working in Australia, immediately by email, and copies were given to their relatives who were present in the court. The entire legal proceeding was over in 15 minutes.

The couple got married under the Hindu Marriage Act soon after they met in 2005, but were separated in 2006. They filed for divorce without any claims six months ago.

As both were in different countries, they pleaded their inability to be physically present in the court. The girl had given power of attorney to her uncle, and the boy to his father.

Since the court did not have videoconferencing facility, the girl’s uncle gave his laptop, microphone and webcam to Judge R Devadoss. The couple was asked to log in at the designated time.

The judge read from a questionnaire separately to the couple: Do you have any children? Do you have any claims? After getting replies in the negative, 'incompatibility' was stated as reason for divorce, and the procedure wrapped up.