February 17, 2025 - The Jammu and Kashmir High Court, in a ruling, has prohibited referring to divorced women as “divorcee” in Courts. While delivering a judgment on a petition related to a marital dispute, Justice Vinod Chatterjee Kaul termed the practice of addressing women as “divorcee” as a “bad tradition” and said it is wrong and painful to identify a woman solely based on her marital status.

If women can be referred to as “divorcee”, then men should also be referred to as “divorceer” (the one who initiates the divorce), which is not socially acceptable, the Court observed. It imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on the petitioner who filed the plea seeking the review of the decision.

The High Court ruled that any divorced woman will only be identified by her name in Court documents. If a woman is addressed as “divorcee” in the petition, it will be rejected, it said.

The decision has been praised by both lawyers and women.

In August 2023, the-then Chief Justice of India, DY Chandrachud, issued a Handbook on behalf of the Supreme Court, advising against the use of inappropriate terms for women.

“Even when the use of stereotypes does not alter the outcome of a case, stereotypical language may reinforce ideas contrary to our constitutional ethos. Language is critical to the life of the law. Words are the vehicle through which the values of the law are communicated. Words transmit the ultimate intention of the lawmaker or the judge to the nation, former CJI Chandrachud writes in the Foreword of the Handbook.

With Media Inputs