December 29, 2023

Role of education in creating awareness about Hindu marriage laws

This article has been written by Ms. Hitika Agrawal, a Second-year student of National Law Institute University, Bhopal.

ABSTRACT

India has always been a hub for education and has great universities like Nalanda and Takshila that offer education in various fields and have a high standard of education. India has various ancient books on law which tells us that law has been part of Indian society for a long time and was also systemized. Education has always helped to increase the thought-making capacity of a person. Different communities have different personal laws for them in India by which they are governed. Hindus have the Hindu Marriage Act, Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, Hindu Succession Act, etc, that help in governing the daily life of the people. People are not aware of various provisions in these acts and often follow what they think is correct which is a cause of various problems like child marriages, gender inequality, under-registration of marriages, and many other problems. Education can be a tool that can be used to spread awareness about these laws can help in reducing the practices that happen which cause suffering to the parties and will help in expanding the horizon of people to new societal changes and help in overcoming the archaic and obsolete practices.

 

INTRODUCTION

India has an ancient lineage of law and a sophisticated legal system that is administered by an independent judiciary. The development of a coherent legal system depends on the quality of legal education that is imparted through institutions. This tells us the importance of education in our lives and a country progresses when the people are educated and know about their rights and can step out of the old thinking to a new and changed world. The legal system has always been influenced by socio-cultural elements and in turn, influences them. Personal law is what is mostly influenced by society and has many provisions that are directly related to societal thinking. Society is not free from bad practices and even when there are laws that prevent such practices they are done as the society is prone to a patriarchal mindset and believes in archaic principles. There are many cases of child marriage, cruelty, dowry death, etc which have caused many problems for the parties and the families of the parties which get aggravated when there is less knowledge about the provisions given in law and the stigma regarding these practices do not help in making the situation any better. This problem can be solved and the role of education will be the most important in this and will help in creating awareness about the Hindu Marriage Laws and in turn will help the people know about their rights so that they don’t continue a marriage even though they get harassed or know that there is no point in continuing the marriage and will also know about their rights in the marriage which will help them in having an equal status in the marriage.

 

EDUCATION ON HINDU MARRIAGE LAWS: A STEP FORWARD

Education is a tool that can be used to raise awareness about the Hindu Marriage Laws and will help in making people aware of their rights. Marriage is a very private matter and people usually do not want to go to the courts to resolve the issues and prefer to settle them in the family. This is the most important thing that needs to be changed and the taboo regarding taking the matter related to marriage to the court should be changed. Education will help in increasing awareness about such matters and will help in changing the perspective of the people. Various problems can be solved through education and will help the parties who are stuck in a so-called marriage. The following are the areas in which education can help in raising awareness:

 

CHILD MARRIAGE

This has been a part of Indian society for a long time and several steps have been taken to eradicate this practice which is responsible for the exploitation, violence, and abuse of children both girls and boys with girls bearing a greater burden of the same. There are acts like the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA) of 2006 and there are provisions given in the Hindu Marriage Act under S. 5(iii) which prescribes the minimum age of marriage for both girls and boys i.e., 18 and 21 years respectively. Child marriage happens when the children are married off before the legal age of marriage and this is common in conservative patriarchal cultures. Girls are major victims in child marriage as they suffer from domestic violence, drop out of school, and teenage pregnancy which in turn can lead to death as the body of a girl is not ready for childbirth at such an early stage. 

This is a very serious matter and many steps have been taken to generate awareness about it but it has not been eradicated and is now also happening in smaller parts of the country. The decrease can be seen in child marriage due to the increase in literacy rates, girls’ education and empowerment programs, and different workshops that happen in smaller parts of the country to help the people understand the menace of child marriage and its bad influence on society. Education can be a major factor as knowledge about various remedies available for the parties in child marriage like they can seek for annulment of marriage under S. 3 of PCMA and some punishments are provided to the people that indulge in the practice of child marriage. The cause of child marriage is sexism, misogyny, and a toxic patriarchal mindset and to change this we have to educate people about gender equality, sexual consent, etc. If parents are educated, they will not indulge in child marriages as they will be aware of the problems associated with it and will be a step forward in the direction of a new Indian where there will be no trace of child marriage.

 

INSTANCES OF CRUELTY

Women have faced cruelty for a long time in marriage as they were not considered equal to men and were supposed to be obedient and loyal to them regardless of how their husbands treated them. Cruelty in marriage was included as a ground for divorce after the 1976 amendment to the Hindu Marriage Act which was a poignant step that was taken to help these women who were facing cruelty. Later the cases of husbands being subject to cruelty also came into the limelight and now any party can claim cruelty as a ground for divorce. Cruelty is difficult to define and includes physical, mental, sexual, or emotional in its definition. A very important thing is that there is no need to show an intention on the part of the party to claim cruelty. While physical cruelty can be seen as a fact mental cruelty is something that depends on a case-to-case basis and mostly what we might term as a normal occurrence in a marriage might be a case of mental cruelty. Mental cruelty may include many factors like false accusations of unchastity, unreasonable refusal to have children, excessive demands for dowry, and many more. 

There is a lack of respect, dignity, and sensitivity towards the wife which is a cause of marital rape and unwanted demands for sex. Even though the issue of marital rape is not yet solved it is termed as mental cruelty to the wife. Unreasonable denial of having sexual intercourse by the wife and forcing the wife to have non-consensual sex both are instances of mental cruelty and can be pleaded as a ground for divorce. Education can help in making the parties aware of different versions of cruelty and how they can take recourse to different provisions provided in the personal laws and also in criminal laws to get out of the clutches of an abusive marriage. When people get knowledge about these, they will even be able to help those who are in this kind of marriage and will also help in raising awareness about the same and will be able to raise their voices against such practices.

 

REGISTRATION OF MARRIAGES

There is a provision regarding the registration of marriage under S. 8 in the Hindu Marriage Act which does not make a marriage void because of non-registration but time and again it is emphasized that the marriage should be compulsorily registered which will help in decreasing the instances of marriage fraud. Several cases have been in the courts regarding the status of marriage in India. In the absence of compulsory registration, the women are duped into false marriages without the performance of valid conditions of marriage and there is also uncertainty about the children born out of wedlock. In the case of Seema v. Ashwini Kumar and Ors, the court observed that the marriage should be registered compulsorily regardless of the religion.

India cannot have unregistered marriages as unlawful as many marriages take place informally in the gathering of relatives or through customary manners which are held as valid. Legal education should be provided so that the persons get the marriage registered after the solemnization of a marriage. This will help the destitute spouse in a situation where a second marriage has been contracted by the other spouse and the proof of the first marriage will be indisputable and the spouse will not be able to abandon the family and his marital obligations etc. The registration will also help in case of disputes in succession and marital obligations, prevention of marriage without consent, check on polygamy, and many more. Education will help in making the women go for registration and in turn will help them claim rights like the right to live in the matrimonial home, maintenance, to claim benefits after the death of the husband, inheritance rights, etc., and will help in uplifting the status of women.

 

MAINTENANCE AND ALIMONY

There is a provision for the maintenance and alimony in the Hindu Marriage Act for the parties under S. 25 and also for maintenance pendente lite and proceeding expenses under S. 24 of the same. Under S. 24 the court can grant interim maintenance to the applicant who has no independent income against the non–applicant to bear the expenses of the proceedings and monthly sum to the applicant during the proceeding. S.25 contains a provision for permanent maintenance in which the court can grant either maintenance or permanent alimony after a decree has been passed. The amount will be determined by the court based on the income and other property of the respondent. In the case of permanent alimony, a lump sum amount is paid at once to the other party while in maintenance an amount is fixed by the court which has to be provided for the lifetime of the other party subject to S. 25(2) and (3). Education about these provisions will help the parties to have financial support and especially the wife will benefit as in most cases they think that they will not have any way to support themselves after divorce as they are mostly dependent on their husband for financial support.

 

CONCLUSION

There are various provisions given in the Hindu Marriage Act and other acts that govern the private lives of individuals and in most cases, the people are not aware of their rights and benefits that are provided in the acts. Education about these provisions will help the people and they will be less likely to get defrauded and will know how to fight for their rights and how to get out of the marriage that is just in name. education is a tool that will help in reducing instances of child marriage, marital cruelty, dowry death, etc, and will also help in getting knowledge about the provision for maintenance, alimony, equal rights in the property to women, and many other rights.

When people are vigilant about their rights, they will be in a better position to help themselves and even other people who might need help. As marriage is a private, not everything gets out so it becomes difficult to identify from the outside if anything is wrong and in most cases the parties are not aware of their rights and think that everything is normal. Various practices like sati, child marriage, and dowry were considered normal while, in reality, they were violative of the rights of the people and were harmful to society. Later, when people became more educated and aware of their rights various steps were taken to eradicate these practices which to a great extent can be seen to have been achieved. Thus, education is the most effective way to fight these evils and also to make people adapt to the new changes in the thinking and working of society. In this way, we will allow people to differentiate between right and wrong, think for themselves, and raise their voices against such exploitation.

 

REFERENCES

Cases:

  • Seema v. Ashwini Kumar and Ors 2006 2 SCC 578

Articles:

 

 

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