(1) In this section, “the specified period” means 5 years from the date of the marriage.
(2) Subject to subsection (3), a petition for divorce shall not be presented to the Court before the expiration of the specified period.
(3) A Judge of the Court may, on an application made to him or her, allow the presentation of a petition for divorce within the specified period on the ground that the case is one of exceptional hardship suffered by the petitioner or of exceptional depravity on the part of the respondent; but in determining the application the Judge shall have regard to the interests of any child of the family and to the question whether there is reasonable probability of a reconciliation between the parties during the specified period.
(4) This section does not prohibit the presentation of a petition based upon matters which occurred before the expiration of the specified period.
(5) If it appears to the Court, at the hearing of a petition for divorce presented in pursuance of leave granted under subsection (2), that the leave was obtained by the petitioner by any misrepresentation or concealment of the nature of the case, the Court may—
(a) dismiss the petition, without prejudice to any petition which may be brought after the expiration of the specified period upon the same facts, or substantially the same facts, as those proved in support of the dismissed petition;or
(b) grant a decree and direct that an application to make the decree absolute shall not be made during that period.
(5) If in any proceedings for divorce the respondent alleges against the petitioner and proves any such fact as is mentioned in section 4(1), the Court may give to the respondent the relief to which the respondent would have been entitled if the respondent had presented a petition seeking that relief.