WHAT IS HINDU MARRIAGE ACT The Hindu Marriage Act is a law in India that governs marriages among Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, and Sikhs. It provides rules and regulations for solemnizing and registering marriages. The act specifies conditions for a valid marriage, rights and obligations of spouses, and grounds for divorce. Some of the main features of the Hindu Marriage Act are: - It applies to any person who is a Hindu by religion, or who follows any of the Hindu customs or traditions, such as Buddhism, Jainism, or Sikhism. - It recognizes monogamy as the only legal form of marriage, and prohibits polygamy and polyandry. - It lays down the minimum age for marriage as 21 years for males and 18 years for females. - It prescribes the ceremonies and rituals that are essential for a valid Hindu marriage, such as saptapadi (seven steps around the sacred fire). - It allows for registration of Hindu marriages with the authorities, and provides for the issuance of a marriage certificate. - It grants equal rights to both the husband and the wife in matters of property, inheritance, maintenance, custody of children, and divorce. - It enumerates the grounds for seeking judicial separation or divorce, such as adultery, cruelty, desertion, conversion, insanity, leprosy, venereal disease, renunciation of the world, or presumption of death. The Hindu Marriage Act has undergone several amendments and changes over the years to keep pace with the changing social and legal scenario. Some of the recent changes are: - In 2005, the Hindu Succession Act was amended to give equal rights to daughters in the ancestral property of their fathers. - In 2010, the Supreme Court ruled that a Hindu marriage can be annulled if either of the spouses suffers from mental disorder or unsoundness of mind at the time of marriage. - In 2017, the Supreme Court declared the practice of triple talaq (instant divorce by uttering the word 'talaq' thrice) as unconstitutional and invalid, and asked the Parliament to enact a law to regulate it. - In 2018, the Supreme Court decriminalized adultery by striking down Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code, which made it an offence for a man to have sexual relations with a married woman without the consent of her husband. - In 2019, the Parliament passed the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, which made the practice of triple talaq a punishable offence with a jail term of up to three years.