A Kerala High Court judgment established that a wife's statutory right to maintenance under Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) cannot be waived in a private agreement, even if she agrees to waive it in a mutual consent divorce. She can still claim maintenance later if she is unable to support herself. In an appeal filed against the order rejecting an application for maintenance by the wife and minor child (the appellants) against the husband, the Divisio

In a significant decision in 2018, the Supreme Court of India decriminalized adultery, striking it off from the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The judgment was delivered by a five-judge Constitution Bench headed by the then Chief Justice of India, Dipak Misra, and included former CJI D. Y. Chandrachud and Justices A. M. Khanwilkar, R. F. Nariman, and Indu Malhotra. The case, Joseph Shine v. Union of India, began in 2017 when a non-resident Indian from Kerala filed a Public Interest

Live-in relationships, once considered unconventional in India, have gradually gained legal recognition through progressive judicial interpretation. Over the years, the Supreme Court has affirmed that such arrangements are not illegal and deserve protection under the right to life and personal liberty guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution. The Groundbreaking Case: S. Khushboo vs. Kanniammal & Anr. (2010) In this landmark judgment delivered on April 28, 2010, the Suprem

In this landmark ruling, the Supreme Court held that the six-month cooling-off period prescribed under Section 13B(2) of the Hindu Marriage Act is not mandatory and can be waived by the court. This decision aims to speed up the process of mutual consent divorce when both parties are certain about ending their marriage and have resolved all pending issues such as alimony, child custody, and property division. The Court emphasized that the provision was meant to prevent hasty

The Supreme Court, in a judgment passed by Justices Indira Banerjee and J. K. Maheshwari on December 11, 2021, stated that it has the power to make an exception to the 6-month waiting period usually required for divorce by mutual consent under Hindu law. In the case of Amit Kumar v. Suman Beniwal, the court said that under Article 142 of the Constitution, which allows the Supreme Court to pass any order necessary to do complete justice, it can waive the 6-month "cooling off"

This case is known for its observations on irretrievable breakdown of marriage as a ground for divorce. The husband sought divorce, alleging cruelty by the wife. The Supreme Court recommended irretrievable breakdown of marriage as a valid ground for divorce. This case examined the irretrievable breakdown of marriage as a potential ground for divorce. While acknowledging the limitations of fault-based divorce, the Supreme Court recommended legislative action incorporating irre

In this recent ruling, the Supreme Court invoked its powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to grant a divorce on the grounds of irretrievable breakdown of marriage , even though such a ground is not available under current statutory laws. The Court clarified that while lower courts cannot grant divorce on this ground, the Supreme Court may exercise this extraordinary power to ensure “complete justice.” The judgment shows how the judiciary is taking progressive steps

Introduction On May 1, 2023, a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court delivered a unanimous judgment in Shilpa Sailesh v Varun Sreenivasan , holding that the Supreme Court can directly grant divorce based on irretrievable breakdown of marriage under Article 142 of the Constitution. This ruling allows the Court to dissolve marriages that have become defunct without requiring parties to prove traditional legal grounds under the Hindu Marriage Act. Key Observations by the Cou