This clause, added by section 7 of the Marriage Law (Amendment) Act, 1976 states that “Desertion” for a period of 2 years is one of the grounds for divorce. If a petition is filed before 2 years on the ground of desertion, then it is usually dismissed on the ground of prematurity. If the same petition is filed after the completion of 2 years, then it is barred by res – judicata. Previously, desertion was only a ground for judicial separation, but now it is a ground for judicial separation as well as divorce. According to section 18(2)(a) of the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956, a Hindu wife can live separately from her husband without forfeiting her claim for maintenance if she has been deserted by her husband without any reasonable cause or within her consent.
Section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 defines desertion as the intentional and permanent abandonment of one spouse by the other without his/her consent and without any reasonable cause. The most important ingredients of desertions are:
To bring cohabitation to a permanent end
Absence of consent
Reasonable cause to leave the matrimonial home
Conversion of spouse
According to this clause, if a spouse converts to some other religion and ceases to be a Hindu, then the other spouse can obtain divorce. The party who converted his religion from Hinduism to some other religion, cannot file a petition for dissolution of marriage under section 13(1)(ii) of the Hindu marriage Act, 1955.
A marriage performed under the Hindu Marriage Act canoe be dissolved due ti the change of religion of one of the spouses. Renunciation does not put an end to social obligations or the matrimonial bonds but it can definitely be one of the causes for a divorce.