Relationship Prior to Marriage Does Not Amount to Adultery
- Any relationship prior to marriage does not amount to adultery, as adultery can only be committed against a husband/wife.
- Ground of adultery is maintainable only if a spouse had physical relations outside marriage.
- There is difference between adultery and living in adultery. Stray acts of adultery by the wife and thereafter her return to matrimonial life does not amount to living in adultery. Living in adultery means continuous acts of adulterous life and not isolated act of adultery. Rare acts of adultery is not sufficient to claim that a wife is living in adultery. If adulterous acts are continuous and repeated continuously, then the wife can be said to be living in adultery.
- A wife committing adultery or who is living in adultery is not entitled for maintenance. The husband has to specifically plead about the wife’s adulterous conduct, time and place and also make the adulterer party to the divorce proceedings.
This article is researched and authored by Advocate Aarun Chanda practicing at Mumbai & Pune
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