Restriction on petitions for divorce during first three years after marriage

(1) No petition for divorce shall be presented to the Court unless at the date of the presentation of the petition three years have passed since the date of the marriage, Provided that a judge may, upon application being made to him in accordance with rules of court, allow a petition to be presented before three years have passed 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 if it appears to the Court, at the hearing of the petition, that the petitioner obtained leave to present the petition by any misrepresentation or concealment of the nature of the case, the Court may, if it pronounces a decree nisi, do so subject to the condition that no application to make a decree absolute shall be made until after the expiration of three years from the date of the marriage, or may dismiss the petition, without prejudice to any petition which may be brought after the expiration of the said three years upon the same, or substantially the same, facts as those proved in support of the petition so dismissed. (2) In determining any application under this section for leave to present a petition before the expiration of three years from the date of the marriage, the judge shall have regard to the interest of any children of the marriage and to the question whether there is reasonable probability of a reconciliation between the parties before the expiration of the said three years. (3) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to prohibit the presentation of a petition based upon matters which have occurred before the expiration of three years from the date of the