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The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955
The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955
Sections
1. Short title and extent
Section 12. Application of Act
Section 23. Definitions
Section 34. Overriding effect of Act
Section 45. Conditions for a Hindu marriage
Section 56. Guardianship in marriage
Section 67. Ceremonies for a Hindu marriage
Section 78. Registration of Hindu marriages
Section 89. Restitution of conjugal rights
Section 910. Judicial separation
Section 1011. Void marriages
Section 1112. Voidable marriages
Section 1213. Divorce
Section 1314. No petition for divorce to be presented within one year of marriage
Section 1415. Divorced persons when may marry again
Section 1517. Punishment of bigamy
Section 1718. Punishment for contravention of certain other conditions for a Hindu marriage
Section 1820. Contents and verification of petitions
Section 2021. Application of Act 5 of 1908
Section 2123. Decree in proceedings
Section 2324. Maintenance pendente lite and expenses of proceedings
Section 2425. Permanent alimony and maintenance
Section 2526. Custody of children
Section 2627. Disposal of property
Section 276. Transitory provisions.
Section 629. Savings
Section 2930. Repeals
Section 30
hindu-marriage-act-1955.json
•
27 Sections
•
India (Central)
{
"id": 11934,
"slug": "hindu-marriage-act-1955",
"title": "The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955",
"short_title": "The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955",
"act_number": "(25 of 1955)",
"act_year": 1955,
"act_type": "CENTRAL",
"location": "India (Central)",
"law_status": "unknown",
"enactment_date": "2026-05-18",
"description": "The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955",
"preamble": "",
"section_label": "Section",
"sections": [
{
"number": "1",
"title": "1. Short title and extent",
"chapter": null,
"content": "Object & Reasons▼\nStatement of Objects and Reasons.\nAmendment Act 68 of 1976-Statement of Objects and Reasons.\nAmendment Act 2 of 1978-Statement of Objects and Reasons.\nAmendment Act 50 of 2003-Statement of Objects and Reasons.",
"footnote": "",
"is_definition": false,
"sort_order": 0
},
{
"number": "2",
"title": "2. Application of Act",
"chapter": null,
"content": "(a) to any person who is a Hindu by religion in any of its forms or developments, including a Virashaiva, a Lingayat or a follower of the Brahmo, Prarthana or Arya Samaj;\n(b) to any person who is a Buddhist, Jaina or Sikh by religion; and\n(c) to any other person domiciled in the territories to which this Act extends who is not a Muslim, Christian, Parsi or Jew by religion, unless it is proved that any such person would not have been governed by the Hindu Law or by any custom or usage as part of that law in respect of any of the matters dealt with herein if this Act had not been passed.\nExplanation.\n(a) any child, legitimate or illegitimate, both of whose parents are Hindus, Buddhists, Jainas or Sikhs by religion;\n(b) any child, legitimate or illegitimate, one of whose parents is a Hindu, Buddhist, Jaina or Sikh by religion and who is brought up as a member of the tribe, community, group or family to which such parent belongs or belonged; and\n(c) any person who is a convert or re-convert to the Hindu, Buddhist, Jaina or Sikh religion.",
"footnote": "",
"is_definition": false,
"sort_order": 1
},
{
"number": "3",
"title": "3. Definitions",
"chapter": null,
"content": "(a) the expression custom and usage signify any rule which, having been continuously and uniformly observed for a long time, has obtained the force of law among Hindus in any local area, tribe, community, group or family:\n(b) district Court means, in any area for which there is a City Civil Court, that Court, and in any other area the principal Civil Court of original jurisdiction, and includes any other Civil Court which may be specified by the State Government, by notification in the Official Gazette, as having jurisdiction in respect of the matters dealt with in this Act;\n(c) full blood and half bloodtwo persons are said to be related to each other by full blood when they are descended from a common ancestor by the same wife and by half blood when they are descended from a common ancestor but by different wives;\n(d) uterine bloodtwo persons are said to be related to each other by uterine blood when they are descended from a common ancestress but by different husbands;\nExplanation.\n(e) prescribed means prescribed by rules made under this Act;\n(f)(i) sapinda relationship with reference to any person extends as far as the third generation (inclusive) in the line of ascent through the mother, and the fifth (inclusive) in the line of ascent through the father, the line being traced upwards in each case from the person concerned, who is to be counted as the first generation;\n(ii) two persons are said to be sapindas of each other if one is a lineal ascendant of the other within the limits of sapinda relationship, or if they have a common lineal ascendant who is within the limits of sapinda relationship with reference to each of them;\n(g) degrees of prohibited relationshiptwo persons are said to be within the degrees of prohibited relationship\n(i) if one is a lineal ascendant of the other; or\n(ii) if one was the wife or husband of a lineal ascendant or descendant of the other;\nor\n(iii) if one was the wife of the brother or of the fathers or mothers brother or of the grandfathers or grandmothers brother of the other; or\n(iv) if the two are brother and sister, uncle and niece, aunt and nephew, or children of brother and sister or of two brothers or of two sisters;\nExplanation.\n(i) relationship by half or uterine blood as well as by full blood;\n(ii) illegitimate blood relationship as well as legitimate;\n(iii) relationship by adoption as well as by blood;",
"footnote": "",
"is_definition": true,
"sort_order": 2
},
{
"number": "4",
"title": "4. Overriding effect of Act",
"chapter": null,
"content": "(a) any text, rule or interpretation of Hindu Law or any custom or usage as part of that law in force immediately before the commencement of this Act shall cease to have effect with respect to any matter for which provision is made in this Act;\n(b) any other law in force immediately before the commencement of this Act shall cease to have effect in so far as it is inconsistent with any of the provisions contained in this Act.\nChapter II\nHindu Marriages",
"footnote": "",
"is_definition": false,
"sort_order": 3
},
{
"number": "5",
"title": "5. Conditions for a Hindu marriage",
"chapter": null,
"content": "(i) neither party has a spouse living at the time of the marriage;\n[(ii) at the time of the marriage, neither party\n(a) is incapable of giving a valid consent to it in consequence of unsoundness of mind; or\n(b) though capable of giving a valid consent, has been suffering from mental disorder of such a kind or to such an extent as to be unfit for marriage and the procreation of children; or\n(c) has been subject to recurrent attacks of insanity [* * *] ;]\n(iii) the bridegroom has completed the age of [twenty-one years] and the bride, the age of [eighteen years] at the time of the marriage;\n(iv) the parties are not within the degrees of prohibited relationship, unless the custom or usage governing each of them permits of a marriage between the two;\n(v) the parties are not sapindas of each other, unless the custom or usage governing each of them permits of a marriage between the two;\n[* * *]",
"footnote": "",
"is_definition": false,
"sort_order": 4
},
{
"number": "6",
"title": "6. Guardianship in marriage",
"chapter": null,
"content": "",
"footnote": "",
"is_definition": false,
"sort_order": 5
},
{
"number": "7",
"title": "7. Ceremonies for a Hindu marriage",
"chapter": null,
"content": "",
"footnote": "",
"is_definition": false,
"sort_order": 6
},
{
"number": "8",
"title": "8. Registration of Hindu marriages",
"chapter": null,
"content": "Chapter III\nRestitution Of Conjugal Rights And Judicial Separation",
"footnote": "",
"is_definition": false,
"sort_order": 7
},
{
"number": "9",
"title": "9. Restitution of conjugal rights",
"chapter": null,
"content": "Explanation.",
"footnote": "",
"is_definition": false,
"sort_order": 8
},
{
"number": "10",
"title": "10. Judicial separation",
"chapter": null,
"content": "Chapter IV\nNullity Of Marriage And Divorce",
"footnote": "",
"is_definition": false,
"sort_order": 9
},
{
"number": "11",
"title": "11. Void marriages",
"chapter": null,
"content": "",
"footnote": "",
"is_definition": false,
"sort_order": 10
},
{
"number": "12",
"title": "12. Voidable marriages",
"chapter": null,
"content": "[(a) that the marriage has not been consummated owing to the impotence of the respondent;\nor]\n(b) that the marriage is in contravention of the condition specified in clause (ii) of section 5; or\n(c) that the consent of the petitioner, or where the consent of the guardian in marriage of the petitioner [was required under section 5, as it stood immediately before the commencement of the Child Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Act, 1978] , the consent of such guardian was obtained by force [or by fraud as to the nature of the ceremony or as to any material fact or circumstance concerning the respondent] ; or\n(d) that the respondent was at the time of the marriage pregnant by some person other than the petitioner.\n(a) on the ground specified in clause (c) of sub-section (1), shall be entertained if\n(i) the petition is presented more than one year after the force had ceased to operate or, as the case may be, the fraud had been discovered; or\n(ii) the petitioner has, with his or her full consent, lived with the other party to the marriage as husband or wife after the force had ceased to operate or, as the case may be, the fraud had been discovered;\n(b) on the ground specified in clause (d) of sub-section (1), shall be entertained unless the Court is satisfied\n(i) that the petitioner was at the time of the marriage ignorant of the facts alleged;\n(ii) that proceedings have been instituted in the case of a marriage solemnized before the commencement of this Act within one year of such commencement and in the case of marriages solemnized after such commencement within one year from the date of the marriage; and\n(iii) that marital intercourse with the consent of the petitioner has not taken place since the discovery by the petitioner of the existence of [the said ground] .",
"footnote": "",
"is_definition": false,
"sort_order": 11
},
{
"number": "13",
"title": "13. Divorce",
"chapter": null,
"content": "[(i) has, after the solemnization of the marriage, had voluntary sexual intercourse with any person other than his or her spouse; or\n(i-a) has, after the solemnization of the marriage, treated the petitioner with cruelty;\nor\n(i-b) has deserted the petitioner for a continuous period of not less than two years immediately preceding the presentation of the petition; or]\n(ii) has ceased to be a Hindu by conversion to another religion; or\n[(iii) has been incurably of unsound mind, or has been suffering continuously or intermittently from mental disorder of such a kind and to such an extent that the petitioner cannot reasonably be expected to live with the respondent.\nExplanation.\n(a) the expression mental disorder means mental illness, arrested or incomplete development of mind, psychopathic disorder or any other disorder or disability of mind and includes schizophrenia;\n(b) the expression psychopathic disorder means a persistent disorder or disability of mind (whether or not including sub-normality of intelligence) which results in abnormally aggressive or seriously irresponsible conduct on the part of the other party, and whether or not it requires or is susceptible to medical treatment; or]\n[***]\n(v) has [* * *] been suffering from venereal disease in a communicable form; or\n(vi) has renounced the world by entering any religious order; or\n(vii) has not been heard of as being alive for a period of seven years or more by those persons who would naturally have heard of it, had that party been alive; [*] .\nExplanation.\n(i) that there has been no resumption of cohabitation as between the parties to the marriage for a period of [one year]\n(ii) that there has been no restitution of conjugal rights as between the parties to the marriage for a period of [one year] or upwards after the passing of a decree for restitution of conjugal rights in a proceeding to which they were parties.]\n(i) in the case of any marriage solemnized before the commencement of this Act, that the husband had married again before such commencement or that any other wife of the husband married before such commencement was alive at the time of the solemnization of the marriage of the petitioner:\n(ii) that the husband has, since the solemnization of the marriage, been guilty of rape, sodomy or [bestiality; or]\n[(iii) that in a suit under section 18 of the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 (78\nof 1956), or in a proceeding under section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974) (or under the corresponding section 488 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (5 of 1898)), a decree or order, as the case may be, has been passed against the husband awarding maintenance to the wife notwithstanding that she was living apart and that since the passing of such decree or order, cohabitation between the parties has not been resumed for one year or upwards; or\n(iv) that her marriage (whether consummated or not) was solemnized before she attained the age of fifteen years and she has repudiated the marriage after attaining that age but before attaining the age of eighteen years.\nExplanation.\n[13-A. Alternate relief in divorce proceedings\n[13-B. Divorce by mutual consent",
"footnote": "",
"is_definition": false,
"sort_order": 12
},
{
"number": "14",
"title": "14. No petition for divorce to be presented within one year of marriage",
"chapter": null,
"content": "",
"footnote": "",
"is_definition": false,
"sort_order": 13
},
{
"number": "15",
"title": "15. Divorced persons when may marry again",
"chapter": null,
"content": "[16. Legitimacy of children of void and voidable marriages",
"footnote": "",
"is_definition": false,
"sort_order": 14
},
{
"number": "17",
"title": "17. Punishment of bigamy",
"chapter": null,
"content": "",
"footnote": "",
"is_definition": false,
"sort_order": 15
},
{
"number": "18",
"title": "18. Punishment for contravention of certain other conditions for a Hindu marriage",
"chapter": null,
"content": "[(a) in the case of contravention of the condition specified in clause (iii) of section 5, with rigorous imprisonment which may extend to two years or with fine which may extend to one lakh rupees, or with both;]\n(b) in the case of a contravention of the condition specified in clause (iv) or clause (v) of section 5, with simple imprisonment which may extend to one month, or with fine which may extend to one thousand rupees, or with both; [*\n*]\nOLD LAW ▼\nChapter V\nJurisdiction And Procedure\n[19. Court to which petition shall be presented\n(i) the marriage was solemnized, or\n(ii) the respondent, at the time of the presentation of the petition, resides, or\n(iii) the parties to the marriage last resided together, or\n[(iii-a) in case the wife is the petitioner, where she is residing on the date of presentation of the petition, or]\n(iv) the petitioner is residing at the time of the presentation of the petition, in a case where the respondent is, at that time, residing outside the territories to which this Act extends, or has not been heard of as being alive for a period of seven years or more by those persons who would naturally have heard of him if he were alive.]",
"footnote": "",
"is_definition": false,
"sort_order": 16
},
{
"number": "20",
"title": "20. Contents and verification of petitions",
"chapter": null,
"content": "",
"footnote": "",
"is_definition": false,
"sort_order": 17
},
{
"number": "21",
"title": "21. Application of Act 5 of 1908",
"chapter": null,
"content": "[21-A. Power to transfer petitions in certain cases\n(a) a petition under this Act has been presented to a district Court having jurisdiction by a party to a marriage praying for a decree for judicial separation under section 10 or for a decree of divorce under section 13, and\n(b) another petition under this Act has been presented thereafter by the other party to the marriage praying for a decree for judicial separation under section 10 or for a decree of divorce under section 13 on any ground, whether in the same district Court or in a different district Court, in the same State or in a different State, the petitions shall be dealt with as specified in sub-section (2).\n(a) if the petitions are presented to the same district Court, both the petitions shall be tried and heard together by that district Court;\n(b) if the petitions are presented to different district Courts, the petition presented later shall be transferred to the district Court in which the earlier petition was presented and both the petitions shall be heard and disposed of together by the district Court in which the earlier petition was presented.\n[21-B. Special provision relating to trial and disposal of petitions under the Act\n[21-C. Documentary evidence\n[22. Proceedings to be in camera and may not be printed or published",
"footnote": "",
"is_definition": false,
"sort_order": 18
},
{
"number": "23",
"title": "23. Decree in proceedings",
"chapter": null,
"content": "(a) any of the grounds for granting relief exists and the petitioner [except in cases where the relief is sought by him on the ground specified in sub-clause (a), sub-clause (b) or sub-clause (c) of clause (ii) of section 5] is not in anyway taking advantage of his or her own wrong or disability for the purpose of such relief, and\n(b) where the ground of the petition is the ground specified [* * *] in clause (i) of sub-section (1) of section 13, the petitioner has not in any manner been accessory to or connived at or condoned the act or acts complained of, or where the ground of the petition is cruelty the petitioner has not in any manner condoned the cruelty, and\n[(bb) when a divorce is sought on the ground of mutual consent, such consent has not been obtained by force, fraud or undue influence, and]\n[(c) the petition (not being a petition presented under section 11)] is not presented or prosecuted in collusion with the respondent, and\n(d) there has not been any unnecessary or improper delay in instituting the proceeding, and\n(e) there is no other legal ground why relief should not be granted, then, and in such a case, but not otherwise, the Court shall decree such relief accordingly.\n[23-A. Relief for respondent in divorce and other proceedings",
"footnote": "",
"is_definition": false,
"sort_order": 19
},
{
"number": "24",
"title": "24. Maintenance pendente lite and expenses of proceedings",
"chapter": null,
"content": "",
"footnote": "",
"is_definition": false,
"sort_order": 20
},
{
"number": "25",
"title": "25. Permanent alimony and maintenance",
"chapter": null,
"content": "",
"footnote": "",
"is_definition": false,
"sort_order": 21
},
{
"number": "26",
"title": "26. Custody of children",
"chapter": null,
"content": "",
"footnote": "",
"is_definition": false,
"sort_order": 22
},
{
"number": "27",
"title": "27. Disposal of property",
"chapter": null,
"content": "[28. Appeals from decrees and orders\nTransitory Provisions ▼",
"footnote": "",
"is_definition": false,
"sort_order": 23
},
{
"number": "6",
"title": "6. Transitory provisions.",
"chapter": null,
"content": "28-A. Enforcement of decrees and orders\nChapter VI\nSavings And Repeals",
"footnote": "",
"is_definition": false,
"sort_order": 24
},
{
"number": "29",
"title": "29. Savings",
"chapter": null,
"content": "",
"footnote": "",
"is_definition": false,
"sort_order": 25
},
{
"number": "30",
"title": "30. Repeals",
"chapter": null,
"content": "",
"footnote": "",
"is_definition": false,
"sort_order": 26
}
],
"metadata": {
"Act ID": "font size=2>Last Updated 30th December, 2019 [act037]",
"Act Number": "(25 of 1955)",
"Enactment Date": "18th May, 1955",
"Act Year": "1955",
"Short Title": "The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955",
"Type": "CENTRAL",
"Location": "India (Central)"
},
"updated_at": "2026-09-29 21:51:52"
}