matching query does not exist Error in Django

Question

I have implemented a password recovery functionality in django. With my method, the new password will be sent to the email id entered. It works fine when given the correct email (e-mail id which exists in the database). But when given an email id which is not in the database, it gives the error:
'DoesNotExist at /forgotPassword/ UniversityDetails matching query does not exist.'

How can I resolve this issue?

forgotPassword.html()

def forgotPassword(request):
    if request.POST:
        email=request.POST.get("email")
        user = UniversityDetails.objects.get(email=email)
        if(not user):
            print "No user"
            return render_to_response("forgotPassword.html")
        else:
            newPassword = user.password
            send_mail('Password Recovery', 'The password for your site is '+ newPassword, '[email protected]',
    ['[email protected]'], fail_silently=False)   
            return render_to_response("passwordRecovery.html")
    return render_to_response('forgotPassword.html')

html

<form name="forgotPassword" method="POST" id="myFormid" action="http://10.1.0.90:8080/forgotPassword/">
<div style="float:center;width:100%;color:#0000A0">
 Enter your E-mail ID</label><br/> <input type="text" name="email" size="25" /> 
 <input type="submit" value="Submit" />
 </div> 

</form >

Answer 1

try:
    user = UniversityDetails.objects.get(email=email)
except UniversityDetails.DoesNotExist:
    user = None

I also see you're storing your passwords in plaintext (a big security no-no!). Consider using the built-in auth system instead.