What are your rights if you find your partner indulged in Adultery?

Adultery, as simple as this word sounds, it has a very heinous meaning attached to it. Adultery by Indian Law is defined by 3 conditions, namely –

1. When a married woman has a sexual relationship with an unmarried man, it falls under adultery from her side.
2. When a married woman has a physical relationship with a married man, it is termed as adultery from both sides.
3. When a married man has a physical relationship with an unmarried woman, it falls under adultery from the man’s side.

Sometimes, few people are not satisfied with what they have. The relation, the connections, the love. Sometimes the couple, develop differences which are difficult to resolve but not impossible. Still they tend to choose the easy way out. They get indulge in adultery. Adultery is condemned in most of the religions as well. It is considered as an unpardonable offense.

But what are you supposed to do if you find your partner indulged in adultery?  Adultery is a crucial ground to take divorce, under Hindu Marriage Act of  1955. For getting a better understanding of the law governing the act, we need to understand the universal definition of adultery.  “Voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and a person who is not their spouse is known as adultery.”

Provision of Divorce under Hindu Marriage Act

Under the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955, Hindu men & women can seek for divorce on adultery’s ground. There is a provision in Hindu Marriage Act which says, “a complaint either by the wife or the husband can be presented before the court alleging that, after the solemnization of the marriage, the other party has, had voluntary sexual inter-course with any person other than his or her spouse.” Therefore, having a voluntarily sexual  relation with a person other than your spouse is a solid ground for claiming divorce.

Provision of Divorce under Special marriage Act

 When it comes to adultery,  Special Marriage Act, 1954 is indistinguishable with Hindu Marriage Act. The act gives divorce rights to both husband and wife on the ground that the other partner in a marriage is involved in adultery.

What to do if your spouse is committing adultery?

Before taking any action, you should know that what acts and actions of your partner comes under the provisional laws of adultery.

• Step-1  Make sure that the act is adulterous, for example:
• Admission of adultery by wife or the husband.
• Child born beyond the period of twelve months after the termination of marital consortium between the couple.
• Testimony of the witnesses stating about the person and the situation of adultery.

• What is not termed as adultery?

1. Sexual intercourse is mandatory.
2. If the breast of the wife is in the hands of another person, this situation is not sufficient to prove adultery.
3. If any male related to the wife is writing letters to her, even this is not sufficient as it does not necessarily prove that there was an illicit relationship between the writer and recipient of the letters.

Then you need to collect some evidences to preset in the court to make your case strong. Hence,

• Step-2 Hiring a detective to collect evidences.

To prove that your partner is involved in Adultery, ou need to gather some evidences. Today it has become quite easy to generate proofs like chats of whatsapp, facebook, or even google meet that is permissible in the court. But other than that a detective helps you by collecting the videos pictures etc of your partner which makes it really easy for you. You can hire a detective at a fees ranging from 10k-50k.

• Step-3 On this stage, TheLila come in handy. After the collection of the evidence, thelila, appoints you with a lawyer of expertise in this field.
• Step-4 Approaching the court

In case of divorce, both the husband and the wife can file a petition to claim divorce. Whether they are married under Hindu Marriage Act or Special Marriage Act, the adultery laws has same enforcement on all.

• Step-5 Talk it out with your partner. Go for divorce with mutual consent.

Even the lawyers at Lila would advise to talk to each other and claim divorce mutually. By having mutual consent, the procedure of divorce won’t take much long. If wife is ready for a mutual divorce here is the procedure:

1. A petition needs to be filed by both the parties, seeking divorce before the District court.
2. Before filing of the petition, married couple should make sure that they are living separately for a period of one year or more. After petition is allowed, parties are required for filing of statement. Afterwards ‘First motion’ is established.
3.  Court after a period of 6 months which is known as the “cooling period”,  will give a date for listening to the parties. If the case is withdrawn or the parties does not move to court at the given date(s), the petition stands canceled. After hearing to parties and on being satisfied, court may pass a decree of divorce declaring the marriage to be dissolved.

• Step-6 Divorce through contest

If the couple cannot come to a mutual consent, the divorce happens via contest. The steps involved in divorce via contest are :

1. Divorce petition to be filed in the family court.
2.  The court will send a copy of the petition to the spouse.
3.  One should be prepared for the time and mental trauma and lengthy court procedure, since thw mode of divorce is contested.
4. If divorce is granted, court will further give a 6-month time span for reconsidering thing and maintenance amount will also be decided.

If not divorce, then what?

If even after the proving of the adultery, if the husband or the wife doesn’t want divorce and also does not want his/her partner to repeat this, they can also opt for marital counseling. We, The Lead India Law Associates, have years and years of experience in bettering the relation and eradicating the bitterness existing in the relation.