Comprehension
A special marriage, i.e., a marriage between persons from two different religious affiliations can be legally contracted in India under the provisions of the law relating to special marriages. The law relating to special marriages provides for the registration of such marriages and for divorce in such cases. One of the modes in which a special marriage can be legally terminated is through divorce by mutual consent of parties to the marriage. In order to obtain a divorce by mutual consent, both the parties to the special marriage are required to jointly present a petition for divorce to the district court on the ground that they have been living separately for one year or more, that they have not been able to live together and that they have mutually agreed that the marriage should be dissolved. At least six months after the presentation of such petition, but not later than eighteen months after the presentation of such petition, the district court, after hearing the parties and after making the necessary inquiry, and being satisfied that the marriage is a 'special marriage', and that the claims made in the petition are true, shall declare the marriage to be dissolved. Further, the personal presence of the parties before the district court at the time of presenting the joint petition for divorce is not mandatory, as the parties can satisfy the court even by affidavit that the requirements for granting divorce on mutual consent are fulfilled.
Question: 1

Ms. A, a Hindu female and Mr. B, a Christian male, got married as per the law relating to special marriages in January 2018. On January 26, 2021, Ms. A and Mr. B jointly presented a petition for divorce by mutual consent before the district court on the ground that they have been inflicting mental cruelty on each other for a period of three years and that they have mutually agreed that the marriage should be dissolved. In the given situation, which of the following statements is correct?

Updated On: Jul 14, 2026
  • The district court shall pass a decree of divorce within six months after the presentation of petition for divorce by mutual consent.
  • The district court shall pass a decree of divorce after eighteen months of the presentation of petition for divorce by mutual consent.
  • The district court shall not immediately pass a decree of divorce by mutual consent.
  • The district court shall immediately pass a decree of divorce by mutual consent if it is satisfied that the marriage was valid.
Show Solution

The Correct Option is C

Solution and Explanation

Mutual consent divorce under the special marriage law is deliberately designed with a built-in cooling-off period, so that a joint petition cannot translate into an instant decree. The statute requires the court to wait at least six months, hear the parties, conduct an inquiry, and be satisfied that the claims in the petition are true, all before any decree can be passed, and the whole process must conclude within eighteen months of presentation.

  1. Option (A): A six-month deadline for passing the decree is not how the provision works; six months is only the earliest point at which the court becomes competent to act, not a promise that it will act by then.
  2. Option (B): Eighteen months functions as the outer boundary for completing the process, not as the specific moment the decree is passed; treating it as a fixed decree date misreads the provision.
  3. Option (C): Because the cooling-off period, hearing, and inquiry are all mandatory prerequisites, the district court is legally barred from passing a decree the moment a petition is presented. This option accurately reflects that bar.
  4. Option (D): Even if the court is fully convinced the marriage was validly solemnized, that alone does not satisfy the separate procedural requirements of the waiting period, hearing and inquiry, so an immediate decree remains unavailable.

The correct answer is The district court shall not immediately pass a decree of divorce by mutual consent.

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Question: 2

Ms. A, a Hindu female and Mr. B, a Christian male, got married as per the law relating to special marriages in January 2018. On February 15, 2021, Ms. A presented a petition for divorce by mutual consent before the district court on the ground that Ms. A and Mr. B have been living separately for a period of one year because Mr. B has been in an adulterous relationship with Ms. X, a Christian female. In the given situation, which of the following statements is correct?

Updated On: Jul 14, 2026
  • The district court shall pass a decree of divorce by mutual consent six months after the date of presentation of petition for divorce.
  • The district court shall pass a decree of divorce by mutual consent eighteen months after the date of presentation of petition for divorce.
  • The district court shall not pass a decree of divorce by mutual consent as the requirements for grant of divorce are not fulfilled.
  • The district court shall not pass a decree of divorce by mutual consent as Ms. A and Mr. B have not been living separately for more than one year.
Show Solution

The Correct Option is C

Solution and Explanation

Two ingredients are non-negotiable for a mutual consent divorce petition under the special marriage law: it must be presented jointly by both spouses, and it must express their mutual agreement that the marriage should be dissolved, in addition to a year or more of living separately. Here Ms. A alone filed the petition, pointing to Mr. B's adultery, which is a fault-based ground, not a joint statement of mutual agreement.

  1. Option (A): A six-month timeline to a mutual-consent decree presupposes a properly constituted mutual-consent petition. That precondition is not met here, so no such timeline can begin running.
  2. Option (B): The same problem applies to an eighteen-month timeline; without joint presentation and mutual agreement, there is no valid mutual-consent process for any timeline to attach to.
  3. Option (C): Since the petition lacks both the joint character and the expression of mutual agreement that the law demands, the district court cannot treat it as a valid mutual-consent petition at all, and a decree on that basis is unavailable. This matches the actual legal defect in the petition.
  4. Option (D): The facts specify a full year of separation, so blaming the refusal on insufficient separation time is simply inconsistent with the given facts, even if the ultimate outcome, no decree, happens to align.

The correct answer is The district court shall not pass a decree of divorce by mutual consent as the requirements for grant of divorce are not fulfilled.

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Question: 3

Ms. A, a Hindu female and Mr. B, a Christian male, got married as per the law relating to special marriages in January 2018. On April10, 2021, Ms. A and Mr. B jointly presented a petition for divorce by mutual consent before the district court on the ground that they have been living separately for a period of three years and that they have mutually agreed that the marriage should be dissolved. In the given situation, which of the following statements is correct?

Updated On: Jul 14, 2026
  • The district court shall pass a decree of divorce by mutual consent after all other legal requirements are fulfilled.
  • The district court shall pass a decree of divorce by mutual consent immediately because Ms. A and Mr. B have been living separately for more than one year.
  • The district court shall not pass a decree of divorce by mutual consent because the marriage between Ms. A and Mr. B is not valid.
  • The district court shall not pass a decree of divorce by mutual consent because neither party is at fault in the marriage.
Show Solution

The Correct Option is A

Solution and Explanation

A valid mutual consent petition needs three things: joint presentation, separation of a year or more, and mutual agreement to dissolve the marriage. All three are present in these facts, so the analysis turns on what happens procedurally once those threshold conditions are met, rather than on whether the petition is valid in the first place.

  1. Option (A): With the threshold conditions satisfied, the remaining question is purely procedural: the court still has to observe the waiting period, hear the parties, and conduct its inquiry before it can grant the decree. This option correctly frames the decree as following once those remaining steps are completed.
  2. Option (B): Meeting the one-year separation requirement does not create an entitlement to an instant decree; the statute still requires the intervening procedural steps regardless of how long the parties have already been separated.
  3. Option (C): There is no factual basis in the given scenario to treat the special marriage between Ms. A and Mr. B as invalid; the law expressly permits and registers such interfaith unions.
  4. Option (D): Mutual consent divorce does not require either party to be at fault; requiring fault would defeat the entire purpose of a no-fault, mutual route to dissolution.

The correct answer is The district court shall pass a decree of divorce by mutual consent after all other legal requirements are fulfilled.

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Question: 4

Ms. A, a Hindu female and Mr. B, a Christian male, got married as per the provisions of the law relating to special marriages in January 2018. On June 16, 2021, Ms. A and Mr. B jointly presented a petition for divorce by mutual consent before the district court on the ground that they have been living separately for a period of three years and that they have mutually agreed that the marriage should be dissolved. During the presentation of the petition, while Ms. A was present physically in the district court, Mr. B joined via video-conferencing. In the given situation, which of the following statements is correct?

Updated On: Jul 14, 2026
  • The district court may pass a decree of divorce by mutual consent six months after the date of presentation of petition for divorce.
  • The district court shall pass a decree of divorce by mutual consent after all other legal requirements are fulfilled.
  • The district court shall not pass a decree of divorce by mutual consent.
  • Both (A) and (B).
Show Solution

The Correct Option is D

Solution and Explanation

Since the law does not insist on physical presence for filing a joint mutual-consent petition, and allows the court to be satisfied through alternatives such as affidavits, Mr. B's appearance by video-conferencing does not derail an otherwise properly constituted petition that already meets the joint-presentation, separation, and mutual-agreement thresholds.

  1. Option (A): The statute treats six months as the earliest point at which the court is empowered to grant the decree, using permissive rather than mandatory language for that specific point in time, so framing it as something the court may do at six months is an accurate description.
  2. Option (B): As a general procedural matter, once the substantive conditions are met and the remaining formalities, the hearing and inquiry, are completed, the decree does follow. This is a correct, and separate, statement from the specific six-month timing point made in (A).
  3. Option (C): Ruling out a decree altogether ignores that the video-conferencing appearance does not violate any mandatory requirement, since personal physical presence was never compulsory in the first place; this option is not supported by the facts.
  4. Option (D): Given that (A) addresses the earliest permissible timing and (B) addresses the general entitlement to a decree once requirements are met, both statements stand true together without conflicting, making their combination the accurate answer.

The correct answer is Both (A) and (B).

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Question: 5

Ms. A, a Hindu female and Mr. B, a Christian male, got married as per the law relating to special marriages in January 2018. On March 15, 2021, Ms. A and Mr. B jointly presented a petition for divorce before the district court on the ground that they have been living separately for a period of three years and that they have mutually agreed that the marriage should be dissolved. Six months later, the district court, after hearing the parties and making inquiry, found that the marriage had been solemnized under the law relating to special marriages, and that the consent of Ms. A for the presentation of petition of divorce was obtained by fraud. In the given situation, which of the following statements is correct?

Updated On: Jul 14, 2026
  • The district court shall pass a decree of divorce by mutual consent because the legal requirements are fulfilled.
  • The district court shall pass a decree of divorce because the marriage had been solemnized under the law relating to special marriages.
  • The district court shall not pass a decree of divorce because there was no mutual consent between parties.
  • The district court shall not pass a decree of divorce because Ms. A has not been punished for fraud.
Show Solution

The Correct Option is C

Solution and Explanation

Mutual consent divorce rests entirely on consent that is real and voluntary; once a court finds that a party's consent to the petition was obtained by fraud, that consent is legally hollow, and the foundation for a mutual-consent decree collapses regardless of anything else in the petition.

  1. Option (A): Treating the legal requirements as fulfilled overlooks that fraud strikes directly at the requirement of genuine consent, which is not a formality that can be satisfied by a fraudulently obtained signature or statement.
  2. Option (B): The original marriage being validly solemnized answers a different question altogether; it says nothing about whether the present consent to divorce is genuine, so it cannot rescue a petition tainted by fraud.
  3. Option (C): Because the court's own inquiry revealed that Ms. A's consent was obtained by fraud, the mutual consent the law demands never truly existed, and the decree cannot be granted on that footing. This directly reflects the court's finding.
  4. Option (D): Refusing the decree has nothing to do with whether Ms. A is separately punished for the fraud; that would be a matter for a different proceeding entirely and is not a precondition for refusing the divorce decree here.

The correct answer is The district court shall not pass a decree of divorce because there was no mutual consent between parties.

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