Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956

The Act applies to a person who is Hindu by religion in any of its forms or developments, including a Virashaiva, Lingayat, or follower of the Brahmo, Prarthana or Arya Samaj; to Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs; and to certain other persons covered by Section 2.

Important: HAMA is not the only statutory adoption framework in India. Adoption of orphaned, abandoned or surrendered children is regulated under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 and the Adoption Regulations, 2022 administered through the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA). Do not reduce the legal position to "Hindu orphanage → Hindu child → Hindu parents."

Section 5 - Adoption to be regulated by the Act

No adoption made after commencement of HAMA is valid if it is contrary to Chapter II. An adoption made in contravention of the Chapter is void and does not create the statutory rights of an adoptive family.

Section 6 - Requisites of a valid adoption

An adoption is valid only if:

1. the person adopting has the capacity and the right to take in adoption;
2. the person giving the child in adoption has the capacity to do so;
3. the person adopted is capable of being taken in adoption; and
4. the adoption complies with the other conditions in Chapter II.

Section 7 - Capacity of a male Hindu to adopt

A male Hindu who is of sound mind and is not a minor has the capacity to take a son or daughter in adoption.

If he has a wife living, he cannot adopt except with her consent unless she has completely and finally renounced the world, ceased to be a Hindu, or has been declared by a court of competent jurisdiction to be of unsound mind. Where more than one wife is living, consent of all wives is required unless an individual wife falls within a statutory exception.

Section 8 - Capacity of a female Hindu to adopt

A female Hindu who is of sound mind and is not a minor has capacity to adopt if she is unmarried, or if her marriage has been dissolved, or her husband is dead, has completely and finally renounced the world, has ceased to be a Hindu, or has been declared by a court of competent jurisdiction to be of unsound mind.

This provision should not be stated merely as "a married woman may adopt with her husband's consent"; the statutory conditions in Section 8 govern her independent capacity.

Section 9 - Persons capable of giving a child in adoption

Only the father, mother or guardian of a child may give the child in adoption, subject to Section 9.

• The father and mother have the statutory rights described in Section 9, subject to the consent requirements and exceptions stated there.
• A guardian may give a child in adoption only with the prior permission of the court and in the circumstances specified by Section 9.
• When considering permission, the court must be satisfied that the adoption will be for the welfare of the child and must consider the child's wishes having regard to age and understanding.

Section 10 - Persons who may be adopted

A person is capable of being adopted if he or she:

1. is a Hindu;
2. has not already been adopted;
3. has not been married, unless a custom or usage applicable to the parties permits adoption of married persons; and
4. has not completed the age of fifteen years, unless an applicable custom or usage permits adoption above that age.

Section 11 - Other conditions for a valid adoption

• If a son is adopted, the adoptive parent must not have a Hindu son, son's son or son's son's son living at the time of adoption.
• If a daughter is adopted, the adoptive parent must not have a Hindu daughter or son's daughter living at the time of adoption.
• If a male adopts a female child, he must be at least 21 years older than the child.
• If a female adopts a male child, she must be at least 21 years older than the child.
• The same child cannot be adopted simultaneously by two or more persons.
• The child must be actually given and taken in adoption by the persons concerned, with the intention of transferring the child from the family of birth-or, in the case of an abandoned child or a child whose parentage is not known, from the place or family where brought up-to the adoptive family.

Section 12 - Effects of adoption

An adopted child is deemed to be the child of the adoptive father or mother for all purposes from the date of adoption. From that date, ties in the family of birth are deemed severed and replaced by those created in the adoptive family, subject to the statutory provisos.

• The adopted child cannot marry a person whom he or she could not have married if remaining in the family of birth.
• Property vested in the adopted child before adoption continues to vest in that child, subject to attached obligations.
• The adoption cannot divest any person of an estate already vested in that person before the adoption.

Sections 13-15 - Property, adoptive parents and cancellation

Section 13: Unless an agreement provides otherwise, adoption does not deprive adoptive parents of the power to dispose of their property by transfer inter vivos or by will.

Section 14: Determines who is treated as the adoptive mother in specified situations involving wives of an adoptive father and later marriages of an adoptive parent.

Section 15: A valid adoption cannot be cancelled by the adoptive father, adoptive mother or any other person, and the adopted child cannot renounce the status and return to the family of birth.

Sections 16-17 - Presumption from registered document and prohibition of payments

Section 16: Where a registered document recording an adoption is produced and is signed by the person giving and the person taking the child in adoption, the court shall presume that the adoption complied with the Act unless disproved.

Section 17: Payment or reward in consideration of an adoption is prohibited, subject to the statutory provision.

Meaning of maintenance - Section 3(b)

"Maintenance" includes provision for food, clothing, residence, education, medical attendance and treatment. In the case of an unmarried daughter, it also includes reasonable expenses of and incidental to her marriage.

A Hindu wife is entitled to be maintained by her husband during her lifetime, subject to Section 18.

She may live separately from her husband without forfeiting her claim to maintenance where one of the statutory grounds exists, including:

• desertion or wilful neglect;
• cruelty creating a reasonable apprehension that it will be harmful or injurious to live with him;
• the husband has another wife living;
• the husband keeps a concubine in the same house in which the wife is living or habitually resides with a concubine elsewhere;
• the husband has ceased to be a Hindu by conversion to another religion; or
• any other cause justifying her living separately.

A Hindu wife is not entitled to separate residence and maintenance under Section 18 if she is unchaste or ceases to be a Hindu by conversion to another religion.

Exam caution: Section 18 is not a provision that starts because the husband dies. Maintenance of a widowed daughter-in-law is dealt with separately by Section 19.

A Hindu wife, after the death of her husband, may claim maintenance from her father-in-law to the extent and subject to the conditions in Section 19, including her inability to maintain herself from her own earnings or property or from the specified alternative sources.

The obligation is not enforceable if the father-in-law lacks the means to do so from coparcenary property in his possession from which the daughter-in-law has not obtained a share. The obligation ceases on her remarriage.

A Hindu is bound, during his or her lifetime, to maintain legitimate or illegitimate children and aged or infirm parents.

• A legitimate or illegitimate child may claim maintenance from father or mother so long as the child is a minor.
• The obligation to maintain an aged or infirm parent or an unmarried daughter extends insofar as that parent or unmarried daughter is unable to maintain himself or herself out of his or her own earnings or property.
• For this section, "parent" includes a childless stepmother.

Section 21 defines the relatives who are treated as "dependants" of a deceased Hindu for Chapter III. It is a definition provision and should not be reduced to a general list of everyone entitled to maintenance.

Section 22 deals with the obligation of heirs of a deceased Hindu to maintain dependants out of the estate inherited by them, subject to the statutory conditions.

Sections 23-28 - Other maintenance rules

• Section 23: matters to be considered by the court in determining the amount of maintenance.
• Section 24: a person who has ceased to be a Hindu by conversion to another religion cannot claim maintenance under Chapter III.
• Section 25: the amount of maintenance may be altered on a material change in circumstances.
• Section 26: certain debts have priority over claims of dependants for maintenance.
• Section 27: a dependant's claim for maintenance is not ordinarily a charge on the deceased's estate unless created in the manner recognised by the section.
• Section 28: deals with the effect of transfer of property on the right to maintenance.

Do not confuse the statutes: "maintenance pendente lite and expenses of proceedings" is Section 24 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. Section 24 of the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 instead concerns a claimant who ceases to be Hindu by conversion.

• Section 5: adoption contrary to Chapter II is void.
• Section 6: four requisites of valid adoption.
• Sections 7-8: capacity of male and female Hindu to adopt.
• Section 9: persons capable of giving a child in adoption.
• Section 10: who may be adopted.
• Section 11: other conditions for valid adoption, including 21-year age difference in opposite-sex adoption.
• Section 12: effect of adoption.
• Section 15: valid adoption cannot be cancelled.
• Section 16: presumption from registered adoption document.
• Section 17: prohibition of payment or reward.
• Section 18: maintenance of wife.
• Section 19: maintenance of widowed daughter-in-law.
• Section 20: children and aged or infirm parents.
• Sections 21-22: dependants and inherited estate.
• Section 24: claimant who ceases to be Hindu.