New Delhi, Dec. 18 -- The Delhi high court on Wednesday ruled that family courts or the high court can waive the mandatory one-year separation period for divorce by mutual consent under the Hindu Marriage Act (HMA) and dissolve the union where the marriage causes exceptional hardship or exceptional deprivation to either spouse. A full bench of justices Navin Chawla, Anup Jairam Bhambhani and Renu Bhatnagar ruled that the mandatory period under section 13B of HMA can be waived to save a couple from remaining trapped in a manifestly unworkable matrimonial relationship. "It is clarified that the one-year period stipulated under section 13(1) B of the HMA, for presenting the first motion, may be waived at the discretion of the family court or t...