Divorce and partition of joint property

In such a situation, preparation and collection of evidence before you take any step is very important, as the burden of proof will fall upon you. Moreover, if you fail to prove your case, you may find yourself in more trouble than you already were.

The Hindu Marriage Act (HMA) under Section 13(1)(i) and the Special Marriage Act (SMA) under section 27(1)(a) have mentioned in a very precise manner, that any marriage may be dissolved by a decree of divorce on filing of a petition by you on the ground that your husband or wife has, after the solemnization of the marriage had voluntary s*xual intercourse with any person other than you.

“The philosophy underlying the scheme of these provisions appears to be that as between the husband and the wife social good will be promoted by permitting them to ‘make up’ or ‘break up’ the matrimonial tie rather than to drag each other to the criminal court. They can either condone the offence in a spirit of ‘forgive and forget’ and live together or separate by approaching a matrimonial court and snapping the matrimonial tie by securing a divorce. They are not enabled to send each other to jail. Perhaps it is as well that the children (if any) are saved from the trauma of one of their parents being jailed at the instance of the other parent.”

Therefore, you can either fix your relationship with your spouse if he or she has been involved in an extra marital affair, or you may opt for the remedies provided by the personal law under which your marriage has been solemnized.