One of my clients recently had a case which I am explaining below and if you are stuck in such similar situation, here is what to do.
Note: Due to attorney-client privilege, I cannot disclose complete case details or identify the actual parties involved. However, I am sharing the essential facts and legal approach so that if you find yourself in a similar situation, you can understand the available solutions and legal remedies.
TL;DR: Adultery is not a crime in India anymore, but it remains a valid ground to seek divorce on grounds of adultery under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, or under the Special Marriage Act, 1954 if the marriage was registered. You can file without ever confronting your spouse, but the petition lives or dies on evidence, and a spouse who is not earning can still claim maintenance. Plan the money side before you file, not after.
On a Tuesday evening in March 2025, Nikhil Verma opened a shared tablet in his flat in Baner, Pune, and watched four years of his marriage rearrange itself in a chat thread. His wife, Shreya, had been messaging her badminton coach. Not casually. He read enough, closed the app, and put the tablet back exactly where he had found it.
He said nothing that night. Or the next.
What he wanted, he told the office of Advocate Sudhir Rao some weeks later, was not a confrontation. He wanted out, quietly. He still had the original marriage certificate from their registered court marriage in 2021. He owned a car in his own name and some savings. No joint property, no joint loans. Shreya was not working, and that was the part that kept him awake.
Before that, he had taken one general opinion from a lawyer who did not handle matrimonial work. The advice was to confront her and gather proof. That advice would have ended the case before it started. Advocate Sudhir Rao's office went the other way: preserve the electronic record properly, plead the adultery ground with the evidence already lined up, and deal with maintenance head-on instead of hoping it would go away. That focus on how adultery is actually proved, rather than on confrontation, is what protected the client's position at the interim stage. It is also the reason the client approached the Chamber of Advocate Sudhir Rao after the first attempt went nowhere.
Key Facts of the Case
- Marriage registered in Pune in 2021; the original certificate was with the client.
- The couple last lived together in Pune, which fixes where the petition can be filed.
- The client said he had electronic evidence of his wife's relationship with her coach and wanted to preserve it before anything was deleted.
- His wife was not employed; he was the only earning member of the household.
- Assets were limited to one car registered in his name and a bank balance. No joint property, no joint loan.
- He did not want a confrontation, a police complaint, or a settlement negotiation that would alert her.
- The earlier general opinion had focused on confrontation, which risked tipping her off and destroying the record