Alimony and Maintenance Laws in India: A Critical Study of Equality and Social Justice

This research paper presents a comprehensive analysis of alimony and maintenance laws in India, critically examining whether these laws advance or undermine the constitutional ideals of equality and social justice. India's maintenance framework is fragmented along religious lines: Hindus are governed by the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 and the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956; Muslims by the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986; and Christians and Parsis by outdated colonial-era statutes, all supplemented by the secular Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. This pluralism, rooted in colonial policy, creates stark inequalities—particularly for Muslim women whose entitlements are circumscribed by the iddat period compared to the permanent alimony available to Hindu women. The paper evaluates landmark Supreme Court decisions including Shah Bano (1985), Danial Latifi (2001), Bhuwan Mohan Singh (2015), and Rajnesh v. Neha (2020), which progressively reframed maintenance as a constitutional right rooted in dignity under Article 21. Despite judicial advances, systemic barriers persist: patriarchal assumptions in judicial reasoning, procedural delays, forum shopping, and inadequate enforcement mechanisms. The paper argues that India requires comprehensive legislative reform establishing a Uniform Maintenance Code that is gender-neutral, religion-agnostic, and constitutionally coherent. It will be of interest to legal scholars, family law practitioners, policymakers, feminist legal theorists, and civil society organizations engaged with questions of gender justice, constitutional equality, and personal law reform.