Sources of Law

1. Krishna Singh v Mathura Ahir

2. Narassu Appa Mali v State of Bombay – Part 3 of Consti not applicable on Personal laws.
3. Collector of Madras v Moottoo Ramlinga – Clear proof of customs may outweigh written text of
law.
4. Divyani Achhi v P Chidambaram – Customs of marriage in Arya samaj are void.
5. Shyam Sundar v State of Bihar – Continuity is necessary for a custom.
6. Saraswathi Ammal v Jagdambal
7. Chitty v Chitty – Moral, certain and reasonable customs.
8. Neelkanth v Isu – Not against public policy
9. Murgappa v Nagappa – Paid adoption is invalid.

Marriage(Hindu)

1. Shastri v Mooldas – Which community can be Hindus

2. K J Yesudas v State of Madras
3. Perumal v Ponnuswamy – Conversion and Resconversion into Hinduism is valid and doesn’t
require shuddhikaran or any other ceremony.
4. Sapna v State of Kerala – Child declared to be Christian because of Christian upbringing.
5. Kishan Kr. Gupta v Barbara Gupta – Child declared to be Hindu because of upbringing.
6. Dadaji Bhikaji v Rukhmabai – Girl’s age is important.

Conversion

7. Ramesh Dudani v Madhavi Dudani – Marriage void as the wife never converted to Hinduism and
was a Christian.
8. Rajiv Gakhar v Bhavna @Sahar Wasif – Marriage void as the wife was muslim and lied about it.
Bigamy
9. Badri Prasad v Deputy Director of Consolidation – Living together for a long time will be
presumed to be married.
10. Dr. AN Mukherjee v State – Married 3 times but only customaries so none of them valid.
11. Priya Ghosh v Suresh Ghosh – Bigamy only if there’s actual marriage not just an intent to marry.
12. Shankaram v Basanna – Injunction can be obtained under Specific relief act section 38 and cpc
order 39 to stop a spouse from marrying again.
13. Balwinder Kaur v Gurmukh Singh – Children may carry on litigation in case of death of a spouse
when they’re major stakeholders in case.
Capability of consent
14. Ajitrao Shivprasad Mehta v Bai Vasumati – Social anxiety not insanity.
15. Nand Kishore Agarwal v Meena Agarwal – Husband couldn’t prove wife’s aggressive behaviour
or traits to constitute periodic insanity.
16. Sharda v Dharam pal – Right to Privacy not absolute in marriage. Medical tests.
17. Hridaya Nadayan v Ratanjay Pandey – Wife declared insane + 50000 maintenance + state
guardian.
18. Veena v Varghese – Unfit for creation not a ground for annulment
19. Corbett v Corbett – A man can only marry a woman.
20. Mr A v Mr B – A male and female may marry transgenders.
Majority
21. Ravi Kumar v State
22. Shikha Sharma v State – Minor eloped with major is valid. Age of discretion 15.
23. Manish Singh v NCT – Minor eloped with minor is valid.
24. Chanmuniya v V K Singh Kushwaha – Living together for a reasonably long time to come under
definition of marriage for purpose of maintenence under CrPC section 125.
Fraud/Force
25. Basanti Mohanty v Parikshit Rout – Free consent not necessary for marriage.
26. Rajni Thomas v Annie Thomas – Petitioner was bullied, marriage annuled on grounds of force.
27. Babu v Ramagya – Girl married to 65 years old groom, fraud by parents, marriage annuled.
28. Ruby Roy v Sudarshan Roy – Man married to a girl with deformed sexual parts, fraud by parents,
marriage not annuled because of honour.
29. Devendra Sharma v Sandhya Sharma – Man proved pregnancy before marriage, couldn’t prove
non-cohabitation after discovery, marriage sustained.
Live In
30. Rameshwari Devi v State of Bihar – A man’s mistress and child not to be given property rights
after his death.
31. Neelamma v Sarojamma – An illegitimate child of 16 years live in has no right on ancestral
property but on the property acquired by parents.
32. Md Aamin v Noor ul Khan – Living together for 12 years regarded marriage in muslim as
polygamy allowed.
33. Tulsa v Durghatia – Children of live in relationship are legitimate.
34. Bharat Mata v R V Rangarajan – Children of Live in relationship have right on both self acquired
and coparcenary property.
35. S Khushboo v Kanniamma – Live in is legal.
DVA
36. D Veluswamy v D Pataichiamma – DV Act has ambit over the cases of live in relationship as well.
37. Chanmuniya v R V Singh Kushwaha – Maintenance under DV act to be given to Live in partners as
well.
38. Indra Sarma v VKV Sarma – 11 guidelines for live in as regard with marriage.
39. S R Batra v Tarun Batra – Reinstatement not possible because no share in grandmother’s
property.
40. Sandhya Manoj Wankhede v Manoj Wankhede – DV act not only limited to male perpetrators.
41. V D Bhanot v Savita Bhanot – It’s protective not punitive. Not held invalid because of
retrospective effect.
42. Vimlaben Ajitbhai Patel v Vatsalaben Ashokbhai Patel – The wofe can’t be reinstated under DV.
Act because husband had no share in mother’s property.
43. P Babu Venkatesh v Rani – 8 months pregnant woman thrown out. Husband transferred
property fraudulently in mother’s name. Court ordered Reinstatement and heavy maintenance.
Ceremonies
44. Bhaurao Shankar v State of Maharashtra – Intention to marry is more important than chanting of
mantras.
45. Modi v Modi – Saptapadi and Vivaah Homa are essential for a marriage.
46. Savitri Devi v Bhikan Choudhary – Mantra chanting in salutary obligation is not essential.
47. Dr. A N Mukerhee – Shastric ceremonies not essential if there’s proof of customary ceremonies.
Otherwise Saptapadi is essential.
48. Dheema v E – No religious ceremonies in buddhism. Intent to marry + cohabitation = enough.
49. Mini v Shivi - No religious ceremonies in jainism. Intent to marry + cohabitation = enough.
50. Surjit Kaur v Garja Singh – Particulars of Karewa ceremony should be fulfilled in detail.
51. Seema v Ashwani Kumar – Registration of marriage is must.
Marriage(Muslim)

Contract or Sacrament

1. Viswa Lochan Madan v UOI – Fatwa has no value in eyes of law.

2. Abdul Qadir v Salima – Marriage is a civil contract.
3. Anisa Begum v Mohd Istafa – Marriage is a sale with religious and social connotations. Pure
contract.
4. Noor Mohammad v Mohammad Ziauddin – Marriage is a solemn pact and not contract having
religious and social connotations.
5. Rahima v V Saburjanessa – If essential conditions of marriage fulfilled, no ceremonies necessary
in muslim marriage.
6. Sirajmohmedkhan v Hafizunnisa Yasinkhan – Muslim marriages not devoid of religious context
and a solemn pact.
Meher
7. Hameera Biwi v Zubaida Biwi – Meher is not to be mandatorily fixed at marriage.
8. Imabi v K Hussain – Whole meher can’t be remitted.
9. Haseena Bano v Alam Noor – Meher is remitted with free consent only. BOP on husband.
Child Marriage
10. Mohd Nihal v State of Bihar – PCMA is applicable on muslim marriages as well.
11. Abdul Khader v K Pechiammal – PCMA is applicable on muslim marriages and all child marriages
are voidable.
12. Mohd Amin v Vakil Ahmed – Continuous cohabitation will be presumed marriage.
13. Chand Patel v Bismillah Begum - 2nd marriage with wife’s sister fasid and child legitimate.
Prenups
14. Marfat Ali v Zahidunnisa – Provision of prenuptial agreements.
15. Moinuddin v Jamal Fatima – Valid in prenuptial agreement to have husband and wife both
entitled to compensation.
16. Mungila Bibi v Noor Hussain – Prenup conditions were, leaving matrimonial house, divorce on
2nd marriage and, half property on triple talaq.
Polygamy
17. Khurshid Ahmed Khan v State of UP – Article 25 protects essentials of religion. Polygamy is not
an essential of Islam.
18. Sarla Mudgal v Union of India – Difference between Conversion and Sham Conversion.
19. Lily Thomas v Union of India – Marriage solemnised after sham conversion is void.
20. Begum Shabanu v Abdul Gafoor - 2nd marriage is cruelty to the first wife.
21. Javed v State of Haryana – Haryana Panchayati act prohibited to contest elections if more than 2
children, declared valid on grounds of Article 25.

Remedies

RCR
1. Rukhmabai v Dadabhai Bhikaji – RCR was recognised. Child bride sent to husband when refused
to go to him even after attaining puberty.
2. T Sareetha v T Venkata Subaiah – Section 9 of HMA declared violative of Article 21.
3. Harvinder Kaur v Harmendra Singh – Section 9 of HMA declared constitutionally valid.
4. Pallavi Chaudhary v Prakash Chaudhary – Valid marriage is sine qua non for restitution.
5. Tirath Kaur v Kartar Singh – Wife has to follow the husband leaving the job.
6. R C Nigam v Shanti Nigam – Gainful employment is valid exception against RCR.
7. R Prakash v Snehlata – Wife can’t be asked to leave employment to live with husband.
8. Gurmeet Singh v Ballakh – Wife can’t ask husband to become a resident son in law.
9. Khargeshwar v Aditi Karnal – Impotency is valid reason.
10. Pushpa Rani v Parichit Pandey – Cruelty is valid reason.
Divorce
Adultery
11. Bonni v Munniratnam – A single act of adultery is enough for divorce.
12. Rashmi Singh v Vijay Singh Negi – Circumstantial evidence and the child’s testimony that a
stranger visited his mother regularly established adultery.
13. A K Mohan v Saya – Husband filed for divorce against wife who adulterated with brother in law
but didn’t make his brother co respondent, court dismissed.
14. Jyoti v Anjan – Husband proved adultery as he had no access to wife during she conceived.
15. Santoshi Devi v Sadanand Goswami – Pre marital pregnancy is not adultery but still a ground for
divorce.
16. Oxford v Oxford – Artificial insemination not adultery.
17. Maclaren v Maclaren – Taking sperm donor with husband’s consent is not adultery.
Cruelty
18. V Bhagat v D Bhagat – Many things like psyche, society etc to be kept in mind while defining
cruelty.
19. A Jaychandra v Atul Kaur – Conduct during proceedings also included in cruelty.
20. Praveen Mehta v Indrajeet Mehta – Mens rea not necessary for cruelty.
21. Neelam Kaur v Daya Rani – One act may constitute cruelty only if it’s extremely deprave.
22. Shobha Rani v Madhukar Reddy – Filing a false complaint against in laws is cruelty.
23. Samar Ghosh v Jaya Ghosh – Refusal to consummate is cruelty.
Abortion as cruelty
24. Sushil Kumar v Usha Rani – Abortion without husband’s consent is cruelty.
25. Bhavani v Laxamma Swami – Vasectomy without wife’s consent is cruelty.
26. Surampal Singh v Kavita – Abortion without husband’s consent is not cruelty.
Living separately as cruelty
27. Rajiv Goyal v Deepika Goyal – Wife’s demand to live separately from joint family is not cruelty.
28. Narendra v K Meena – Constant nagging to live separately and torturing and humiliating parents
amounts to cruelty.
29. Chetan Das v Kamla Das – Every family case has to be decided upon its own merits.
Desertion
30. Bipin Chandra v Bhagawati – Wife went to live with father, husband asked not to come and filed
for divorce. Not granted because of earlier attitude.
31. Lachman v Meena – Husband alleged to be very indifferent and cold. Wife went to maternal
home, court declared husband to be deserter.
32. Savitri Pandey v Prem Kr Pandey – Wife went to live with boyfriend. Husband filed for divorce.
She remarried. Court granted divorce and charged wife with bigamy.
33. Geeta Jagdish Mangatani v Jagdish Mangatani – Both lived in different cities. Wife earned more.
She accused him of cheating and didn’t come to live with him. Court granted divorce.
Mental Disorder
34. Rama Singh v Shyam Narayan – It should be proved that it’s not reasonably possible to live with
the person not just mental illness.
Conversion
35. P Babu v V P Leela – Conversion is a matrimonial misconduct. Consent doesn’t matter.
Venereal disease
36. P Ravi Kumar v Kokila – AIDS is a ground for divorce.
 Mutual Consent Theory
37. Leela Mahadev Joshi v Mahadev Joshi –
38. Swati Verma v Ranjan Verma – Wife filed under 498 a, 406 IPC and 3, 4 of Dowry act. Husband
agreed for 60000 alimony and 10000 maintenance and return of stree dhan. Divorce granted.
39. Harpit Singh v State of WB – If the parties have made a truce then complaint could be withdrawn
in interest of justice.
40. Om Prakash v Saurashtra Devi – Consent can be withdrawn during pendency of the suit.
41. Roopa Vipin Zaveri v Ashok Hurra – Consent can be withdrawn even after 18 months. Husband
had remarried. Court granted divorce.
42. Anjana Kishor v Punit Krishna – SC and to a certain extent some HC can waive off the waiting
period.
43. Neeta Malviya v Rakesh Malviya – Only Legislature can waive off the waiting period.
44. Akanksha v Anupam Mathur – SC can waive off the waiting period.

Irretrievable breakdown of Marriage

45. Chandralekha Trivedi v S P Trivedi – 17 years apart made dead marriage. Divorce granted.
46. Naveen Kohli v Neelu Kohli – 3 FIRs against husband. Allegations against wife too. Divorce
granted.
47. Vishnu Dutta v Manju Dutta – Irretrievable breakdown of marriage is not a ground to plead for
divorce but court can give on this.
Divorce (Muslim)
48. Usuf Rowther v Swaramma – Arbitration is important part of divorce.
49. Ziauddin v Anwar Begum – Divorce cannot be arbitrary. It should be based on a rationale.
50. Dagdu Pathan v Rahimbi – Divorce should be based on a reason. Only to take revenge or inflict
harm is haraam.
51. Shameem Ara v State of UP – Reasonable grounds + arbitration + formal pronouncement.
52. Parveen Akhter v UOI
53. Shayara Bano v UOI – Triple Talaq(Instantaneous) is not intrinsic to islam. It’s violative of Articles
14 and 21.
54. Ahmedabad Women Action Group v State of Gujarat – Personal laws don’t come under the
ambit of Article 13.
55. Sara Ali Khan v Adnan Sami – Married then divorced. Married again. Husband contended
marriage is void because of no halala. Halala only needed in Triple Talaq.
56. Khurshid Bibi v Md Ameen – Khula without husband’s consent and wife’s consideration is valid.
57. Usuf Rowther v Swaramma – It’s duty of a man to maintain his wife.
58. Zenima v Abdul Rashid – Husband failed to maintain wife after suffering loss in business. Divorce
granted.
59. Sirajmohmedkhan v Hafizunnisa Yasinkhan – Husband can’t force wife to live with him to prove
potency.

Adoption

1. Lakshmikant Pandey v Union of India – Guidelines for inter country adoption.

2. Brajendra Singh v State of MP – A hindu male needs to take wife’s consent before adoption.
3. Ghesaalal v Dhapubai – A wife can’t adopt without husband’s consent.
4. M Gurudas v Ras Rajan – There should be actual giving and taking ceremony for adoption.
5. Shailaja v Kunoor Med College – Valid procedure, total knowledge of relations of child. Caste
doesn’t change when Higher caste kid is adopted by lower caste parents.
6. Valsamma v Cochin University – Wife’s caste doesn’t change after marriage.
Maintenance

Section 24

1. Bharat Hegde v Saroj Hegde – Maintenance from father’s borrowed money.

2. Jasbeer Kaur v DM Dehradun – status, way of life, income etc.
3. Amarjeet Kaul v Harbhajan Singh – Adultery. DNA test.
4. Gautam Kundu v State of WB – DNA test can’t be forced.
5. Chaturbhuj v Seeta – Inability necessary not destitution.
6. Kanchan v Kamlendoo – Prove physical or mental incapacity.
7. Rani Shetty v Sunil Shetty – Maintenance to husband because of fraud by wife.
8. Ida Aruna v Ida Nagareddy – Status of parents immaterial.

Section 25

9. Shailaja v Khaboona – 25% of net income as maintenance.

10. U Siri v U Srinivasan – Maintenance to be decided in each case differently.
11. Ramesh Ch Dagga v Rameshwari Dagga – Annulment granted. Maintenance still required.
12. Savitri Ben Som Bhai Bhatia v State of Gujarat - 2nd wife won’t get maintenance.
13. Ramendra Singh v Rohtash – 25 is enabling provision. Maintenance required for desertion by
wife.
14. Pankaj Mahajan v Dimple Mahajan – Divorce on grounds of cruelty and insanity.

Section 125

15. Shail Kumari Devi v Kishan Pathab – Right to residence included in S 125.
16. Devnarti Haldar v Anushree Haldar – Left matrimonial home in 3 months, maintenance not
payble. Husband filed for divorce
17. Satish Goenka case – Wife claimed maintenance after agreeing not to in mutual consent divorce.

HAMA

18. M Saibo v M Padma – Has to maintain, no matter minor, pauper or insolvent.

19. JawaharLal Dhawan v Chand Dhawan – Maintenance under 125, not under 24, 25.
20. Vimla v Veeraswamy – 2nd wife maintained.
21. Savita Ben Som bhai Bhatia v State of Gujarat – 2nd wife won’t get maintenance.
22. Badshah Godse v Urmila Godse – 2nd wife won’t get maintenance if she knew.

Muslim Maintenance

23. Mohd Ahmed Khan v Shah Bano Begum – Maintenance after iddat period allowed. Under 125.
24. Daniel Latiffi v Union of India – Same as Shah Bano. Section 3 of MWD Act.
25. Noor Saba Khatoon v Mohd Kasim – Maintenance of child not under 3.
26. Iqbal Bano v State of UP – Consent for 125 immaterial.
27. Shabana Bano v Imran Khan – 125 applicable in muslim.