In Brief
A wife sought to amend her written statement in divorce proceedings to allege that her husband had contracted a second marriage with another woman and to seek a declaration that the second marriage was void. The Supreme Court held that while the wife could amend to add factual allegations about the second marriage (since she discovered these facts during cross-examination), she could not seek relief declaring the second marriage void as a counter-claim under the Hindu Marriage Act. Section 23A permits counter-claims only for reliefs available between spouses under the Act; declaring a third party's marriage void requires a separate civil suit, not a matrimonial court counter-claim. The appeals were partly allowed, permitting amendment of certain paragraphs but dismissing the counter-claim relief.
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