Sections 27, 27A, 28 and 29 of the Special Marriage Act, 1954

The Special Marriage Act, 1954 provides for contested divorce, alternative relief by judicial separation, divorce by mutual consent and restrictions on presenting a divorce petition within the first year of marriage. The provisions below explain the grounds, conditions and procedural safeguards.

On this page: Section 27 Section 27A Section 28 Section 29 Official law

Section 27 - Divorce

Under Section 27(1), either spouse may petition the district court for divorce on any applicable statutory ground, subject to the Act and relevant procedural rules:

Section 27(1)(a) - Sexual intercourse outside marriage: After solemnization, the respondent has voluntarily had sexual intercourse with a person other than the spouse.
Section 27(1)(b) - Desertion: The respondent has deserted the petitioner continuously for at least two years immediately before filing. Desertion means separation without reasonable cause and without consent or against the wish of the petitioner; it includes wilful neglect.
Section 27(1)(c) - Imprisonment: The respondent is undergoing a sentence of imprisonment for seven years or more for an offence as defined in the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (as referenced in the statutory text).
Section 27(1)(d) - Cruelty: The respondent has treated the petitioner with cruelty since the marriage. Courts assess the conduct and its effect in the circumstances of each case.
Section 27(1)(e) - Mental condition: The respondent is incurably of unsound mind, or has a continuous or intermittent mental disorder of such kind and extent that the petitioner cannot reasonably be expected to live with the respondent. The statutory explanation includes mental illness, arrested or incomplete development of mind, psychopathic disorder and schizophrenia; the precise legal threshold must be proved, and a diagnosis alone does not automatically establish it.
Section 27(1)(f) - Communicable venereal disease: The respondent has been suffering from venereal disease in a communicable form.
Section 27(1)(h) - Presumption of death: The respondent has not been heard of as alive for at least seven years by persons who would naturally have heard from that person if alive.

Legislative update: Section 27(1)(g), which formerly concerned leprosy, was omitted by the Personal Laws (Amendment) Act, 2019, with effect from 1 March 2019. Leprosy is not a current independent ground for divorce under this clause.

Additional grounds available to the wife - Section 27(1A)

A wife may also petition where her husband, since solemnization, has been guilty of rape, sodomy or bestiality. A further ground arises where maintenance was awarded to the wife despite living separately under Section 18 of the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956, or the statutory maintenance proceeding referred to in Section 27(1A)(ii), and cohabitation has not resumed for at least one year after the order or decree. The provision refers to Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (and its historical predecessor); for current procedural law, also consider the corresponding maintenance framework under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023.

After judicial separation or restitution - Section 27(2)

Either spouse may seek divorce if cohabitation has not resumed for at least one year after a decree of judicial separation, or if conjugal rights have not been restored for at least one year after a decree for restitution of conjugal rights, in proceedings involving the parties.

Section 27A - Alternative relief in divorce proceedings

When a divorce petition is filed, the court may instead grant a decree of judicial separation if it considers that relief just in the circumstances. This alternative is unavailable where the petition is founded on Section 27(1)(h), concerning a spouse not heard of as alive for seven years. Judicial separation relieves the parties of the obligation to cohabit but does not itself dissolve the marriage. See also Section 23 (judicial separation).

Section 28 - Divorce by mutual consent

Section 28(1): Both spouses must jointly present a petition stating that they have lived separately for one year or more, have been unable to live together and mutually agree that the marriage should be dissolved. Living separately is assessed in substance, not merely by whether the spouses occupy different addresses.

Section 28(2): The statutory text provides for a further motion by both parties not earlier than six months and not later than eighteen months after presenting the joint petition, if it has not been withdrawn. After hearing the parties and making an appropriate inquiry, the court must be satisfied that the marriage was solemnized under the Act and the petition statements are true before passing the decree. The marriage dissolves from the date of the decree.

Cooling-off period: Courts have considered waiver of the six-month waiting period in appropriate cases in light of Supreme Court jurisprudence, including Amardeep Singh v. Harveen Kaur (2017) 8 SCC 746. Waiver is not automatic, and its application to proceedings under Section 28 should be assessed against binding precedent and the facts of the case. Mutual consent must remain effective as required by law until the decree.

Section 29 - Restriction on divorce petitions during the first year

Section 29(1): Ordinarily, a divorce petition cannot be presented until one year has elapsed from the entry of the marriage certificate in the Marriage Certificate Book. On an application, the district court may permit earlier presentation where the petitioner faces exceptional hardship or the respondent has displayed exceptional depravity.

If permission was secured by misrepresentation or concealment, the court may dismiss the petition without prejudice to a later petition, or make a decree that does not take effect until the prescribed one-year period has elapsed, as provided in the section.

Section 29(2): In deciding whether to grant early filing permission, the court considers the interests of any children and whether reconciliation is reasonably probable before the end of the one-year period. This restriction is distinct from the one-year separate-living requirement under Section 28(1).

Related provisions and practical considerations

Petitions must comply with jurisdictional and procedural requirements under the Act, including Sections 30 to 33 and the court duties and ancillary relief provisions in Sections 34 to 37. Evidence of separation, alleged matrimonial conduct, prior decrees and the terms of any settlement can be material. Divorce and judicial separation are different remedies; neither a private agreement nor a filed petition alone dissolves the marriage.

Official legislation and amendments

Updated: 5 October 2026. This article explains the statutory framework and does not replace case-specific legal advice.