mumbai the union cabinets recent move to quicken the process of mutual divorce is likely to provide respite to sparring couples in mumbai after all the number of couples parting ways by mutual consent has been steadily rising over the past five years records from the family court in bandrakurla complex show that mutual consent petitions made up for 41 of the total divorces filed in the city in 2011a steady rise from their 37 share in 2007 in what sociologists and marriage counsellors see as a maturing of societys attitude towards divorce in absolute numbers 2098 of the total 5115 divorce petitions filed at the family court in 2011 were by mutual consent against 1525 of the total 4134 divorce pleas five years ago while there could be several factors contributing to the rise in mutual divorces several say gennext is more independent and less willing to waste life years in bitter fights and longdrawn court battles easy access to marriage counsellors as well as a diminishing stigma attached to the status of being divorced could also be responsible for the trend the fact that couples agree to part ways amicably is a sign of maturity of society says s parasuraman director of tata institute of social sciences tiss it is the practicality of the legal process that could be driving the trend says rajan bhonsale marriage counsellor and kem hospitals head of sexual medicine department mutual consent divorces take place faster and couples are beginning to realize the futility of contesting a divorce if their relationship isnt going to work out anyway youngsters today are quick to take decisions and are not bound by tradition to stay in a marriage he says counsellors point out that women who have independent careers and are professionally successful may be less dependent on the financial support of their partners which could also contribute to such mutual decisions the cabinet further facilitated the process by approving changes to the marriage act and allowing waiver of the waiting period required for divorce under mutual consent by the judge if both the husband and wife agree the law till now mandated a sixmonth cooling period for couples before divorce could be granted some women activists though fear that quicker divorces may work against women particularly if it involves custody of children marriage counsellor sunjoy mukerji says that the increasing availability of marriage counsellors today may be a contributing factor in mitigating the bitterness of relationships gone sour mutual divorce he says is all about two parties negotiating to reach a consensus take the experience of radhika pant and girish shirodkar both mba professionals in their late 20s who were dating since college they knew each other for more than a decade but called off their marriage mutually a year after they tied the knot radhika who got a yearlong overseas work opportunity returned from her stint only to discover that she wanted more out of life than being with girish as she has great