Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act 1956 / Section 18

Section 18 of Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act 1956: Maintenance of Wife

Section 18 of the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 (HAMA) recognizes a Hindu wife's right to be maintained by her husband during her lifetime and specifies when she may live separately without losing her claim to maintenance.

At a glance: The section covers the basic right to maintenance, statutory grounds for separate residence with maintenance, and circumstances in which separate residence and maintenance are unavailable. The leprosy ground formerly contained in Section 18(2)(c) was removed in 2019.

Meaning of maintenance under HAMA

For HAMA, the definition of "maintenance" is found in Section 3. In relation to a person, it includes provision for food, clothing, residence, education and medical attendance and treatment. In the case of an unmarried daughter, the statutory definition also includes reasonable expenses of and incident to her marriage.

Section 18: Maintenance of wife

Section 18(1): Right to be maintained

Subject to Section 18, a Hindu wife, whether married before or after commencement of the Act, is entitled to be maintained by her husband during her lifetime.

Section 18(2): Separate residence without forfeiting maintenance

A Hindu wife may live separately from her husband without forfeiting her claim to maintenance on the statutory grounds set out in sub-section (2), including:

  1. Desertion: abandonment without reasonable cause and without her consent or against her wish, or wilful neglect.
  2. Cruelty: treatment creating a reasonable apprehension that living with the husband would be harmful or injurious.
  3. Another wife living: where the husband has another wife living.
  4. Concubine: where the husband keeps a concubine in the same house in which the wife lives, or habitually resides with a concubine elsewhere.
  5. Conversion: where the husband has ceased to be a Hindu by conversion to another religion.
  6. Other justifying cause: any other cause justifying the wife's living separately.

Section 18(3): Bar to separate residence and maintenance

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

Important 2019 amendment: Section 18(2)(c), which referred to the husband suffering from a virulent form of leprosy, was omitted by Section 6 of the Personal Laws (Amendment) Act, 2019. The remaining statutory clauses retain their existing lettering, so the text proceeds from clause (b) to clause (d).

How Section 18 works

The right under Section 18(1) is the general statutory entitlement. Sub-section (2) is important where spouses are living apart because it identifies circumstances in which separate residence does not by itself defeat the wife's maintenance claim. Whether a particular ground is established depends on the facts and evidence of the case.

The amount of maintenance is not fixed by Section 18. Section 23 deals with determination of the amount of maintenance, while Section 25 permits alteration of maintenance where there is a material change in circumstances.

Official statutory sources

For the authoritative Central Act and amendment history, see the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 on India Code and the Personal Laws (Amendment) Act, 2019.

This page is a general legal information resource. The application of Section 18 to a particular dispute depends on the facts, pleadings, evidence and applicable judicial decisions.