Shahariar Islam Sovon :
The rising trend of divorce has been uprising amid extramarital affairs, financial instability and lack of marital understandings.
Experts claim that in Bangladesh, divorce through talaq (oral pronouncement of divorce) or “triple talaq” is not legally recognised as an immediate or valid means of ending a marriage.
The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) survey, published in 2024, reveals an increase in both marriage and divorce rates in Bangladesh.
Conducted across over 300,000 households, the survey shows that between 2006 and 2021, the divorce rate hovered between 0.6% and 1.1% of the population. However, in 2022, this rate rose to 1.4%.
The survey further highlights that, in 2021, the general divorce rate among women aged 15 and above was slightly below 2%, which surged to 3.6% the following year.
Similarly, the divorce rate for men aged 15 and above was slightly over 2% in 2021, increasing to 3.8% in 2022.
The primary cause for divorce was cited as extramarital affairs. Additionally, a 2020 study published in the EBAUB Journal of Law noted a higher divorce rate among individuals aged 25 to 29, as well as among those who had undergone child marriage.
In the United States, most divorces occur around the eighth year of marriage.
A report on U.S. property law categorizes marriages lasting up to five years as short-term, those lasting 5-20 or 25 years as medium-term, and marriages exceeding 20 or 25 years as long-term.
Studies indicate that in the U.S., a divorce occurs every 42 seconds, amounting to 86 divorces per hour.
Legal experts told The New Nation that according to the Muslim Family Laws Ordinance of 1961, a formal procedure must be followed for a divorce to be considered valid, which includes notifying the local Union Council chairman or relevant local authority in writing, followed by a 90-day waiting period for possible reconciliation.
In Bangladesh, the 1961 Muslim Family Law provides clear guidelines on divorce procedures. ‘According to this law, either spouse may initiate a divorce, but must follow certain steps.
If a man wishes to divorce his wife, he must inform the local Union Council chairman or city mayor through a formal notice after pronouncing the divorce’, he said.
Legal experts explained that the party initiating the divorce must notify the chairman or mayor of the relevant area.
“A written notice must be sent to the Union Council chairman, municipal mayor, or city corporation mayor, with a copy of the notice also delivered to the spouse being divorced,” they stated.
Regarding the timeline, the law specifies that the notice should be sent as soon as possible after the pronouncement.
The notice can be mailed or handed over directly.
The divorce becomes final 90 days after the notice is received by the chairman or mayor, allowing time for possible reconciliation.
During this 90-day period, an arbitration council comprising a local representative and a representative from each party is established to mediate.