Conditions for a Valid Hindu Marriage

Various conditions are required to be satisfied for a Hindu marriage to be valid under section 5 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.



This Act says that a marriage may be solemnized between any two Hindus provided that:

1. Neither party should have a spouse who is alive at the time of the marriage.

2. Neither party can be mentally unsound and therefore incapable of giving valid consent to the marriage at the time of the marriage.

3. If at the time of the marriage, either party though capable of giving a valid consent has been suffering from mental disorder which makes that party unfit for marriage and the procreation of children, the marriage will not be valid.

4. If either party has been subject to recurrent attacks of insanity or epilepsy, the marriage will not be valid.

5. The bridegroom should have completed the age of twenty one years and the bride, the age of eighteen years at the time of the marriage.

6. The parties should not be within the degrees of prohibited relationship unless the custom or usage governing each of them permits of a marriage between the them.

7. The parties should not be sapindas of each other unless the custom or usage governing each of them permits of a marriage between the two.