On any petition presented, 1[by a husband or a wife, praying that his or her marriage may be dissolved by reason of his wife or her husband, as the case may be, having been guilty of adultery, cruelty or desertion], the husband and wife respectively shall be competent and compellable to give evidence of or relating to such cruelty or desertion.
1Subs. by Act 51 of 2001, s. 28, for certain words (w.e.f 3-10-2001).