Legal Question in Family Law in India

A female colleague of mine is having a domestic dispute. Her husband wants a divorce which she is refusing to give. Suddenly, quite to my horror, this man has filed a divorce petition against her alleging adultery involving me and has named me co-respondent. This is acutely embarrassing for me as I am a married man, much older than this colleague and everybody knows our relationship was above suspicion. I was out of town when the summons arrived and so missed the first date of hearing. The colleague has shown me her copy of the petition and it is without any evidence at all --rather it expects the Judge to order Airtel to give evidence against her, which too would be inconsequential. It is clear that this is a move to humiliate her in her society and force her to agree to a swift divorce on mutual consent. Now a new date has been set three months later. I have no intention to appear in this case as I don't want my family to know of this scandal. Besides, it would mean travelling to another city and needless expense. As the woman involved is already appearing in court, my question is --can the Judge grant ex parte divorce if the co-respondent (me) does not appear? I have read a lot of literature on this but have failed to find a precedent. Please help.

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