A Muslim woman can seek divorce if the husband is not traceable for a period of

Section 2(i) allows a woman married under Muslim law to seek dissolution when her husband’s whereabouts have not been known for four years. This is a statutory matrimonial ground, not the seven-year evidentiary presumption of death. The decree on this ground has the additional six-month safeguard stated in the proviso, during which the husband may appear and obtain its setting aside on the prescribed showing.

Current law: For marriages covered by Uttarakhand’s UCC, section 25(1)(viii) instead uses not having been heard of as alive for seven years or more by those who would naturally have heard, and section 29 requires statutory dissolution. The Code commenced on 27 January 2025, subject to its applicability and exclusions.