MORALITY, DEPENDENCY AND MAINTENANCE: PLIGHT OF WOMEN UNDER HINDU LAW

Abstract

Right to Maintenance is the only provision for economic claims within marriage available to women. Within the historical origins of the institution of marriage based on a patriarchal social order, for a vast majority of women, marriage results in economic dependency. Flavia Agnes aptly explains maintenance as ‘a need-based approach, which reduces the wife to a subordinate position and does not recognize her as an equal partner in marriage.’ However, marriage and the way it has been conceived in India is an inherently patriarchal and unequal institution; against this background, maintenance is a necessary right. It is also one of the very few positive rights available for women. 

Maintenance is also a right, which necessarily tags along a stigma -- of being a favor bestowed upon a woman rather than an entitlement. In this context, this paper is to elucidate the flaws within the system with respect to the Right to Maintenance. In doing so, the aim, firstly, is to display the perpetuation of economic subordination of women and secondly, the imposition of sexual morality as a standard. The holistic aim is to bring to light the inherent sexism present in Hindu Personal Law. 

The Right to Maintenance can be claimed only as a subsidiary relief while claiming a primary matrimonial relief such as divorce, judicial separation, annulment of marriage, or restitution of conjugal rights. An additional statute, which grants women an independent Right to Maintenance under Hindu Personal Law, is the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956. The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 provides an additional avenue for women to claim maintenance and compensation from their husbands and live in partners. Under these provisions, maintenance can be obtained without the necessity of initiating proceedings for a primary matrimonial relief.