Interfaith Marriage and Emerging Trends in India: A Legal Perspective

During the British ruling in India, as a matter of colonial policy, it was politically expedient for the British not to interfere with existing personal law in so far as they related to family and inheritance rights alone. This is because the main object of the East India Company was to carry trade, commerce, and exploitation on the natural resources of the country as their primary motive was with the law relating to trade and commerce. Before the commencement of the Constitution, the personal laws in India had anomalous features. Polygamy and child marriage were common. Inter-caste marriage and widow re-marriages were prohibited. Divorce and other matrimonial remedies under Hindu and Muslim personal laws were unknown to society. By conducting a thorough analysis of legislative as well as emerging trends in matrimonial relief, a series of divergent trends are being dealt with. In addition, laws concerned with live-in relationship in India are also being dealt with.