HMA 14 — No petition for divorce to be presented within one year of marriage

Hindu Marriage Act, 1955

Statutory text

(1) Notwithstanding
anything  contained  in  this  Act,  it  shall  not  be competent  for  any  court  to  entertain  any  petition  for
dissolution of a marriage by a decree of divorce,

[unless at the date of the presentation of the petition one
year has elapsed] since the date of the marriage:
Provided  that  the  court  may,  upon  application  made  to  it  in  accordance  with  such  rules  as  may  be
made  by  the  High  Court  in  that  behalf,  allow  a  petition  to  be  presented

[before  one  year  has  elapsed]
since the date of the marriage on the ground that the case is one of exceptional hardship to the petitioner
or of exceptional depravity on the part of the respondent, but if it appears to the court at the hearing of the
petition that the petitioner obtained leave to present the petition by any misrepresentation or concealment
of the nature of the case, the court may, if it pronounces a decree, do so subject to the condition that the
decree  shall  not  have  effect  until  after  the

[expiry  of  one  year]  from  the  date  of  the  marriage  or  may
dismiss the petition without prejudice to any petition which may be brought after

[expiration of the said
one  year]  upon  the  same  or  substantially  the  same  facts  as  those  alleged  in  support  of  the  petition so dismissed.
(2) In disposing of any application under this section for leave to present a petition for divorce before
the

[expiration of one year] from the date of the marriage, the court shall have regard to the interests of
any  children  of  the  marriage  and  to  the  question  whether  there  is  a  reasonable  probability  of  a
reconciliation between the parties before the expiration of the

[said one year].

Back to HMA