The Restitution Of Conjugal Rights And Its Violation Of The Right To Privacy

Aneeta Felix, School of Law, Christ (Deemed to be University), Bengaluru

ABSTRACT

The provision for restitution of conjugal rights under Sec. 9 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 and Sec. 22 of the Special Marriage Act, 1954 creates a vacuum in law as it tends to violate the provisions of right to privacy under Article 21. A court mandated restitution of conjugal rights tends to be a coercive act on the part of the government and violates a person’s decisional autonomy. In several previous judicial pronouncements, the court has upheld the validity of restitution of conjugal rights denying equal status and equal rights to women in a marriage. This opens to a lot of interpretations with regard to the law being in force. The paper contends that the provision of restitution of conjugal rights tends to violate the Right to Privacy guaranteed under Article 21. The provision of restitution of conjugal rights although gender neutral, poses a great threat to the Indian women. Given the plethora of Indian judgments upholding individual interests and bodily autonomy, the existence of this provision raises a constitutional dichotomy between an individual’s right to privacy and the archaic provision of restitution of conjugal rights.

Keywords: Autonomy, Coercive, Conjugal rights, Marriage, Privacy,