DESSERTION AS A GROUND FOR

DIVORCE IN INDIA

Neel Misra
B- 18
BBA LLB IV SEMESTER
• Under the Hindu law, section 13 (1) (ib) of the Hindu
Marriage Act, 1955 mentions desertion as a ground for
divorce.
• uninterrupted period of not less than 2 years immediately
after which petition is presented.
• without a reasonable rationale and without or against the wish
of such party, and includes the willful neglect of the petitioner
by the other party to the marriage
ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF DESSERTION
It was in Bipinchandra Jaisinghbai v. Prabhavati that the court gave two
essential elements:
(i) fact of desertion
(ii) the intention to end cohabitation permanently.
(iii) absence of consent
(iv) the absence of conduct that gives reasonable ground to the spouse
leaving the matrimonial home
Pradip Kumar Kalita v. Hiran Provo Kalita

It was held that a wife who left her matrimonial

home and stayed with parents because of the
refusal of the husband to keep her was not guilty
of desertion.
 Shanti v. Ramesh

Justice Katju observed, that just because a wife

refuses to resign from her job on her husband’s
demand, she cannot be held to have withdrawn
from his society.
 TYPES OF DESSERTION
• ACTUAL DESSERTION
• CONSTRUCTIVE DESSERTION
• SUPERVENING DESSERTION
• MUTUAL DESSERTION

END OF DESSERTION
• Resuming cohabitation
• Resuming Marital Intercourse
• Offering to reconciliate (Animus revertendi )