Law Maker

CHAPTER III MAINTENANCE

Section 18: Maintenance of wife

The Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 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;

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(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.

Footnotes in the official text

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

Questions on this section

3 questions in 9 of our papers cite Section 18. Try these from the free papers:

  1. 1. Consider the following statements about grounds available only to a wife under Section 13(2) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955: 1. The husband has, since the solemnisation of the marriage, been guilty of rape, sodomy or bestiality. 2. After a maintenance decree or order in her favour under Section 18 HAMA or Section 125 CrPC, cohabitation has not been resumed for two years or upwards. 3. In a marriage solemnised before the Act, another wife of the husband married before the Act was alive at the solemnisation of the petitioner's marriage, and is alive when the petition is presented. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  2. 2. Consider the following statements under Section 18 of the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956: 1. A Hindu wife who has ceased to be a Hindu by conversion to another religion remains entitled to separate residence and maintenance. 2. A wife may live separately without forfeiting maintenance if her husband keeps a concubine in the same house in which she is living. 3. A wife may live separately without forfeiting maintenance if her husband has any other wife living. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

Practise questions on Hindu Law