[ Everyday Law ]
Section 144 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 carries forward the summary maintenance jurisdiction that Section 125 of the CrPC, 1973 has exercised since 1974. The substantive content is unchanged. The procedural law, however, has been substantially tightened since Rajnesh v Neha , (2021) 2 SCC 324 — affidavits of assets and liabilities are now mandatory from both parties at the outset, the date from which maintenance runs has been fixed at the date of application as the default, and the Magistrate is bound by disposal targets the Supreme Court has spelt out. This guide is the working procedural map.
2026-05-18 · 18 min read
[ Everyday Law ]
Restitution of conjugal rights under Section 9 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 — and its analogues in Section 22 of the Special Marriage Act, 1954, Sections 32-33 of the Divorce Act, 1869 (Christian) and Section 36 of the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1936 — is the oldest surviving English-origin matrimonial remedy in Indian law. Saroj Rani v Sudarshan Kumar , (1984) 4 SCC 90 upheld Section 9 against Article 14 and Article 21 challenge, resolving the conflict between T Sareetha v T Venkata Subbaiah , AIR 1983 AP 356 and Harvinder Kaur v Harmander Singh Choudhry , AIR 1984 Del 66. After K S Puttaswamy v Union of India , (2017) 10 SCC 1 and Joseph Shine v Union of India , (2018) 11 SCC 676, the question is open again — the pending writ in Ojaswa Pathak v Union of India before the Supreme Court asks whether the doctrine survives the new privacy and autonomy jurisprudence.
2026-05-15 · 18 min read
[ Everyday Law ]
Danial Latifi v Union of India , (2001) 7 SCC 740, a five-judge Constitution Bench, upheld the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986 by reading Section 3 so as to require the former husband to make a "reasonable and fair provision" extending beyond the iddat period and covering the rest of the divorced woman's life, with the payment falling due within the iddat. Iqbal Bano v State of UP , (2007) 6 SCC 785, Shabana Bano v Imran Khan , (2010) 1 SCC 666 and, most recently, Mohd Abdul Samad v State of Telangana , 2024 INSC 506 have built on that base — Section 144 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 [Section 125 CrPC] remains a concurrent and independently available remedy.
2026-05-12 · 18 min read
