ws even the single act of adultery enough for the dictum of

divorce.[1] It is obligatory to establish that at the time of the

act of adultery the marriage was lawful, since adultery is a
crime against marriage. The offence or crime of adultery may
be proved by: a) Circumstantial evidence, b) Contracting
Venereal disease.
In Swapna Ghose v. Sadanand Ghose[2], the wife found her
husband and the adulteress to be lying together on the bed at
night and it was further proved by the neighbour that the
husband was living with the adulteress as husband and wife,
and the evidences were sufficient to constitute this case as an
offence of adultery.
Cruelty

The cruelty is a developing concept, the modern theory of

cruelty includes both physical and mental cruelty. Acts of
cruelty are behavioural exemplification specified by different
factors in the life of spouses, each case has to be then
constituted on the basis of its own set of facts.
While physical cruelty is easy to rectify, it is very to hard to
determine what mental cruelty consists of. Mental cruelty is
lack of such conjugal kindness of marital relations, which
causes the suffering of such a degree that it adversely affects
the mental health of the spouse on whom it is inflicted. Some
examples of Cruelty are, false accusation of adultery, demand
of dowry, impotency, drunkenness, threat to commit suicide,
incompatibility of temperament, refusal to have marital
intercourse or children, etc.
In Pravin Mehta v. Indrajeet Mehta, the court has defined the
cause of mental cruelty as ‘state of mind’.[3]
Desertion
Desertion means the repudiation by one spouse of all the
responsibilities of marriage- the abandonment of one spouse
by the other without any rational cause and without the
consent of the other. It means a total rejection of marital
obligation and legal responsibilities.
The following five conditions must be co-existing to constitute
desertion and ground for divorce:
 animus deserdendi (intention to desert)
 the factum of separation
 desertion without consent of other party
 desertion without any reasonable cause
 de jure period of two years must have run out before filing a
petition.
In Bipinchandra v. Prabhavati[4] the Supreme Court states that
where the respondent leaves the matrimonial home with an
intention to desert, he will not be guilty of desertion if
subsequently he shows an intention of returning and
subsequently prevented from doing so by the petitioner.
Insanity or Mental Disorder

Insanity or mental disorder as a ground of divorce has the

following two prerequisites:
i) The person has been suffering from incurable unsoundness
of mind