Hindu

As per India legal news reports, the Madras High Court has held that the courts in the country have jurisdiction to address matrimonial cases, which involve Hindus and are governed by the Hindu Marriage Act, including those cases where the opposite party is a foreign citizen, residing outside India.

India has always boasted of having a patriarchal society. Most festivals of India celebrate the importance of the male as the head of the family through elaborate customs and festivals. For example, Bengal’s Jamaishoshti festival celebrates the son-in-law. The North Indian festival called the Karva Chauth requires the wife to hold fast for the long life of her husband on that day. Male centric customs and festivals have always been a part of Indian life, mirroring the special social status given to men. Unfortunately, these male-focused customs also paved the way for the practice of demanding dowry on behalf of the male. Indian law treats it as an offence to give or receive dowry but it is practiced openly in the society.

According to prevailing Indian laws, a female Hindu is the absolute owner of her property. Legal rights of women to own property was not officially recognized till the introduction of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956. The Act transformed the limited ownership of a woman into absolute ownership.

Divorce is the formal termination or legal dissolution of a marriage. Every nation has distinct laws safeguarding the rights of both the spouses in a marriage. In India, the laws take into account religious distinctions. Divorce of Hindus, Sikhs and Jains is governed by the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955, divorce of Muslims is governed by the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act of 1939 and Christians need to follow the laws laid down under the Indian Divorce Act of 1869. There are separate laws for inter-cast or inter-religion marriages. These fall under the Special Marriage Act of 1954.

Adoption is a legal process that creates a new and permanent relationship between a child and the adoptive parents, similar to that of a child who has biological parents. Adoption is treated equivalent to natural birth under personal laws in India. On adopting a child, Indian law bestows the adoptive parents with all the legal rights, responsibilities and obligations as that of legal parents.

Under Indian laws that pertain to the joint family system, when a joint family undergoes partition, each member of the family is entitled to claim his/her share. Under Hindu law, coparacenary share is the term that is used. When partition is being contemplated and any woman of the family is pregnant at the time, Hindu law recommends postponing the partition till the child is born. In Hindu law, a child in the womb also has the right to a share. However, if it is not possible to reschedule the partition, a share must be kept aside and that share must be equal to the coparcener’s share. If, in case, the partition takes place without keeping a coparcener share for the unborn child, the after born son has the right to get the partition reopened.

Since time immemorial, there is social stigma surrounding a child who is not born to legally wedded/married parents. This is no different under Hindu law. A child is considered illegitimate when he/she is born to parents who were not legally married to each other at the time of the child’s birth. In a landmark case, Mongal Chandra v. Dhirendra, AIR 1976 Cal. 129, the court recognized an illegitimate son as the son of a permanent and exclusive mistress of a particular person.

Hindu law does not recognize the legal right of a concubine to claim maintenance. A concubine is a woman who cohabits with a man to whom she is not legally married. Simply put, we are talking about a mistress. A concubine is usually given an inferior position in the Indian society as compared to a legally wedded wife. In Hindu law, such a woman is termed as ‘Avarudha Stri.’ In earlier times, it was believed that such a woman should live in the family home of her paramour.

Getting a divorce in India is certainly not an easy procedure, whether you follow Hindu marriage law or special marriage law. The whole procedure includes many emotional highs and lows and long waits for the final outcome. Before going ahead with the divorce procedure, prepare yourself for the long process ahead.

Under Indian marriage laws, a marriage can be set aside if the consent for it was secured by fraud or misrepresentation of facts. This is not so easy to prove. However, it must be noted that fraud is not defined in the Indian marriage laws. So, any type of fraud cannot be taken as a ground for matrimonial relief.