Special Marriage Act, 1954

The appellant, Sandhya Manoj Wankhade, filed a complaint under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 against her husband and his mother‑in‑law and sister‑in‑law. The trial court and the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court deleted the mother‑in‑law and sister‑in‑law from the proceedings on the groun…

Reynold Rajamani and his wife, married under the Indian Christian Marriage Act, filed a joint petition under Section 28 of the Special Marriage Act seeking divorce by mutual consent. The trial court dismissed the petition, and the couple attempted to rely on Section 7 of the Indian Divorce Act 1869 read with Section 1(…

Rakhi Sadhukhan filed for divorce from Raja Sadhukhan and was awarded permanent alimony of Rs.20,000 per month with a 5% increase every three years by the Calcutta High Court. She later contended that the amount was insufficient given the husband’s higher income and the standard of living she enjoyed during the marriag…

The petitioners, a group of Muslim women, challenged the constitutional validity of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986, arguing that it discriminated against them by excluding Muslim divorced women from the protection of Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The Court examined whether…

Jayalakshmi Coelho and Oswald Joseph Coelho, married under the Special Marriage Act, executed a mutual‑consent divorce agreement on 26 July 1991 that also dealt with property and child‑custody matters. Their petition for divorce sought only a decree of divorce, and the Family Court granted it without incorporating the …

The case involved two senior IAS officers who married under the Special Marriage Act in 1984. The wife unilaterally decided not to have children, refused cohabitation, neglected her husband during illness, insulted him and eventually forced him out of their home, leading to a separation that lasted over sixteen years. …

The Supreme Court revisited its earlier order of 14 February 2006 directing that all marriages in India be compulsorily registered. After hearing amicus curiae and examining compliance reports, the Court found that several states (Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Meghalaya, Mizoram…

The appellant, Ram Chandra Bhaghat, was convicted under Section 493 of the Indian Penal Code for deceitfully inducing a belief of lawful marriage and cohabiting with the complainant for nine years, during which they had two children. The appellant argued that no belief of a lawful marriage was induced, contending that …

The petitioner, Anil Kumar Mahsi, filed a writ petition under Article 32 challenging Section 10 of the Indian Divorce Act, 1869 as being discriminatory against husbands and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution. He sought dissolution of his marriage on the ground of his wife's desertion and contended that the Act…

The petitioners, both commercial pilots, claimed to have "solemnised" their marriage on 7 July 2021 and obtained a marriage certificate from Vadik Jankalyan Samiti, which was later used to register the marriage under the Uttar Pradesh Marriage Registration Rules, 2017. In reality, no Hindu rites or saptapadi were perfo…

Shabnam Hashmi filed a writ petition under Article 32 seeking a declaration that the right to adopt and to be adopted is a fundamental right under Article 21 and that adoption should be permitted irrespective of religion, caste or creed. The petition also asked the Union of India to enact an optional law on adoption. T…

The Supreme Court of India considered a batch of petitions seeking legal recognition of same-sex marriage under the Special Marriage Act, 1954, and other laws. The Court held that there is no fundamental right to marry under the Constitution, and the Special Marriage Act is not unconstitutional for excluding same-sex c…

The parties were married under the Special Marriage Act and had a daughter born in 1990. The mother left the matrimonial home with the child in 2000, prompting the father to file a habeas corpus petition and applications under Sections 7 and 25 of the Guardians and Wards Act, 1890 and Section 6 of the Hindu Minority an…

The husband filed a petition for divorce under Section 27(d) of the Special Marriage Act, alleging cruelty. The trial court decreed divorce, but the High Court set aside that decree. While the appeal was pending before the Supreme Court, the parties executed a Joint Memorandum of Settlement wherein the husband agreed t…

The plaintiff, Sujathamma, a maternal granddaughter of the deceased's father, claimed to have married her maternal uncle Hanumanthappa on 7 March 1986 and sought a share of his estate as his wife. The alleged marriage was supported only by a registration document (Ex.P/1) with no evidence of any customary rites or sapt…

The appellant-wife filed criminal and civil proceedings alleging cruelty, hurt and dowry demands by her husband, leading to multiple interim maintenance orders. After nine years of separation, failed reconciliations and pending litigations, the parties mutually agreed that the marriage was irretrievably broken. The Sup…

The Supreme Court, hearing a transfer petition concerning a matrimonial suit, observed that the lack of official marriage records in many States enables unscrupulous persons to deny the existence of marriages, adversely affecting women and children. It noted that while several States have rules for voluntary registrati…

The husband filed a writ petition challenging the interim maintenance granted to his wife under Section 12 of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, alleging that she was already married to another man, as evidenced by a marriage certificate under the Special Marriage Act, 1954. The trial court rejec…

The wife, a Christian from the Khasi tribe and an Indian Foreign Service officer, married a Sikh husband under the Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872. She filed a petition under the Indian Divorce Act, 1869 seeking a declaration of nullity or judicial separation on the ground of her husband's impotence. The Delhi High…

The case concerned the succession to the private properties of the late Raja Harinder Singh of Faridkot. The Raja had executed several wills, the last of which (dated 1‑June‑1982) purportedly left all his property to a trust for his two younger daughters, excluding the eldest daughter, Rajkumari Amrit Kaur. The eldest …

Sureshta Devi and Om Prakash filed a joint petition under Section 13‑B of the Hindu Marriage Act for divorce by mutual consent. The wife later applied to withdraw her consent, claiming it was obtained under pressure, and the District Court dismissed the petition. The High Court reversed that order, holding that consent…

Samar Kumar Roy filed a suit under Section 34 of the Specific Relief Act, 1963 (and Section 38 for injunction) seeking a declaration that his alleged marriage under the Special Marriage Act was void. The plaintiff died during the proceedings and his mother was substituted as his legal representative under Order 22 Rule…

The husband appealed against a Family Court order granting interim maintenance of Rs 15,000 per month to his wife and Rs 10,000 per month to his son under Section 125 of the Cr.P.C., which was affirmed by the Bombay High Court. The Supreme Court upheld the lower courts' orders, directed the husband to pay the full arre…

The husband appealed against a High Court order directing him to reimburse his wife’s medical expenses incurred after she fell down the stairs. The wife had filed an application under Section 151 of the CPC in a pending matrimonial suit under the Special Marriage Act, 1954, seeking medical reimbursement. The Supreme Co…

The Supreme Court considered the custody of an 11‑year‑old daughter, Gospi, of a divorced Parsi couple. The lower courts had awarded custody to the father, but the mother appealed, arguing that the child's welfare required her custody and continued education in a boarding school. The Court held that the welfare of the …

The appellant, Bhabani Prasad Jena, filed a petition under the Special Marriage Act seeking a declaration of nullity of his marriage and claimed the marriage was unconsummated. While the matrimonial suit was pending, the wife filed a complaint before the Orissa State Commission for Women alleging torture, desertion and…

Mrs. Dorothea Mitra obtained a decree of divorce in 1962 granting her permanent alimony of Rs.300 per month until remarriage, under Section 37 of the Special Marriage Act, 1954. The husband, Prafulla Kumar Mitra, died in 1965 without providing for the decree in his will, and the executrix failed to continue payments af…

Rizwanur Rahman married Priyanka Todi under the Special Marriage Act. After the marriage, police officials repeatedly interfered, threatened the couple and later the deceased was found dead on railway tracks. The mother and brother of the deceased filed a writ petition seeking transfer of the investigation from the Sta…