India, June 7 -- A recent judgement by a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court of India, which invoked Article 142 of the Constitution to dissolve a 15-year marriage, goes a long way in prising open the white-knuckled grip that the institution of marriage has on society. The bench of justices Sanjay Karol and Augustine George Masih even urged the judiciary to offer effective and timely relief to prolonged marital disputes that were "frozen and stale", stating that doing so will help not only the frustrated spouses but also society.

This is indeed true, and far-sighted of the bench. Divorce is still considered a taboo, and as the recent deaths by suicide of Twisha Sharma and Deepika Nagar show us, women who are forced to stay on in violent...