78 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
(27)
CHAPTER II
Restitution of conjugal rights and judicial separation
27. Petition for restitution of conjugal rights. —When either the husband or the wife has, without reasonable excuse, withdrawn from the society of the other, the aggrieved party may apply, by petition to the district court for restitution of conjugal rights and the court, on being satisfied of the truth of the statements made in such petition and that there is no legal ground why the application should not be granted, may decree restitution of conjugal rights accordingly.
(29)
28. Answer to petition for restitution of conjugal rights. — Nothing shall be pleaded in answer to a petition for restitution of conjugal rights which would not be a ground for judicial separation or for a decree of annulment of marriage.
(29)
29. Judicial separation. —Either party to a marriage, whether solemnized before or after the commencement of this Code, may present a petition to the district court praying for a decree for judicial separation on the ground that the other party—
(a) has deserted the petitioner without cause for a period of not less than two years immediately preceding the presentation of the petition;
(b) has been guilty of such cruelty as to render it unsafe for the petitioner to live with the other party; or
(c) has, for a period of not less than one year immediately preceding the resentation of the petition, been suffering from venereal disease in a communicable form and not contracted from the petitioner;
(d) is suffering from a virulent form of leprosy; or
(e) has been habitually of unsound mind since the date of the marriage; or
(f) has committed adultery during the marriage.
Explanation. —In this section, the expression “to desert” with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, means to desert the other party to a marriage without reasonable cause and without the consent or against the wish of such party.