CourtMesh

Section 18: Maintenance of wife.

The Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956Central Act · Act 78 of 1956

(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, a Hindu wife, whether married before or after the commencement of this Act, shall be entitled to be maintained by her husband during her life time.

(2) A Hindu wife shall be entitled to live separately from her husband without forfeiting her claim to maintenance,

(a) if he is guilty of desertion, that is to say, of abandoning her without reasonable cause and without her consent or against her wish, or of wilfully neglecting her;

(b) if he has treated her with such cruelty as to cause a reasonable apprehension in her mind that it will be harmful or injurious to live with her husband;

* * * * *

(d) if he has any other wife living;

(e) if he keeps a concubine in the same house in which his wife is living or habitually resides with a concubine elsewhere;

(f) if he has ceased to be a Hindu by conversion to another religion;

(g) if there is any other cause justifying her living separately.

(3) A Hindu wife shall not be entitled to separate residence and maintenance from her husband if she is unchaste or ceases to be a Hindu by conversion to another religion.

Where this provision sits

ActThe Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956
Section18
Marginal noteMaintenance of wife.
JurisdictionCentral
StatusIn force as published by the source
Judgments citing it2

How this provision has been amended

Taken from the footnotes printed with the provision by the source. Where a footnote names the amending instrument, it is quoted as printed.

  • omitted, Act 6 of 2019. Clause (c) omitted by Act 6 of 2019, s. 6 (w.e.f. 1-3-2019).

Find the provision, not just read it

The full text above is free, and it stays free. What a free CourtMesh account adds is everything you cannot do by reading one page at a time:

  • Search 49,000+ Central and State enactments by what a provision says, not by its number
  • Jump from any section to every judgment that has applied it
  • Search 300 million+ Indian court records alongside the statute
  • Ask a research agent to find and read the case law on a provision for you

Free account. No card. About a minute to create.

Create a free account

Need this as data, not as a page? The Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 is one of 49,000+ enactments on CourtMesh. The Indian court cases API serves the case law that cites these provisions over JSON, with API documentation and plans and pricing. See also the judgment library.