India, March 18 -- I have on my desk a recent judgment of the Madhya Pradesh High Court (HC)'s Indore Bench, indeed heartwarming, which deserves to be followed by all other high courts and affirmed by the nation's apex court. If the husband or in-laws of a married woman force her to give up her pursuit for education, it will amount to mental cruelty, the court held, arming her with a mighty ground for seeking dissolution of her marriage by a decree of divorce. To comprehend the importance and implications of this rather novel ruling we must briefly look at the history and the present status of the law of divorce in the country.

It is believed that the concept of divorce had no place in the ancient Indian law which rested on the rule of "...