The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955

What it does

The Act is Act No. 25 of 1955. It codified the law of marriage for Hindus and it did three things. It stated the conditions for a valid marriage, it provided the remedies of restitution of conjugal rights, judicial separation, nullity and divorce, and it provided for the incidents of a marriage that has broken down: maintenance, alimony and the custody of children.

The conditions in section 5 include that neither party has a spouse living at the time of the marriage, that each has the capacity to consent, and that the parties are of marriageable age, which is eighteen for the bride and twenty-one for the bridegroom. The parties must not be within the prohibited degrees of relationship or sapinda relationship unless custom permits. Section 7 provides that the marriage may be solemnised in accordance with the customary rites and ceremonies of either party.

The Act separates marriages that are void from those that are voidable. A marriage in breach of the conditions on bigamy, the prohibited degrees or sapinda relationship is void (section 11). A marriage where consent was obtained by force or fraud, or where one party was unable to consent, is voidable at the option of the aggrieved party.

Who it binds

The Act applies to a Hindu by religion in any of its forms, to a Buddhist, a Jain and a Sikh, and to a person domiciled in India who is not a Muslim, Christian, Parsi or Jew unless it is shown that the person would not have been governed by Hindu law. Section 2 sets this out.

What has changed, and when

The Act came into force in 1955 and has been amended, most notably by the Marriage Laws (Amendment) Act, 1976, which added divorce by mutual consent in section 13B. The grounds in section 13(1) include adultery, cruelty, desertion for a continuous period of two years, conversion to another religion, unsoundness of mind and certain diseases. Cruelty and desertion have been defined mainly by judgments and not by the text.

The Supreme Court has also changed practice around mutual consent. Section 13B provides for a petition after separation of a year, a motion after not less than six months and not later than eighteen months from the petition. In Amardeep Singh v Harveen Kaur (2017), the Court held that the six month period is directory and can be waived in a suitable case. In Shilpa Sailesh v Varun Sreenivasan (2023), the Court held that it may dissolve a marriage under Article 142 of the Constitution where the marriage has broken down irretrievably, a ground the statute does not itself provide.

What turns on it in practice

The site's note on matrimonial and child custody sets out the forum and the relief. Divorce petitions are heard by the Family Court under the Family Courts Act, 1984 where one is established. Interim maintenance under section 24 and permanent alimony under section 25 are decided on the incomes and needs of the parties. Custody, maintenance and education of minor children are dealt with under section 26, consistently with the children's wishes wherever possible.

Three points recur for the matrimonial and family practice. Which ground is pleaded, because cruelty and desertion turn on evidence of conduct over a period, and the pleading must say what happened and when. Whether the bar on petitions within one year of marriage in section 14 applies. And how the remedies interlock with other proceedings: maintenance under section 144 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, an application under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, and a criminal complaint for cruelty can all run alongside a petition under this Act. The order in which they are taken, and the consistency of what is said in each, often decide the outcome of the others.