18.
Maintenance of wife.- (1) Subject to
the provisions of this section, a Hindu wife,
whether married before or after the commencement
of this Act, shall be entitled to be maintained
by her husband during her lifetime.
(2) A Hindu wife shall be
entitled to live separately from her husband
without forfeiting her claim to maintenance-
(a) if he is guilty of desertion,
that is to say, of abandoning her without reasonable
cause and without her consent or against her
wish, or of wilfully neglecting her;
(b) if he has treated her
with such cruelty as to cause a reasonable apprehension
in her mind that it will be harmful or injurious
to live with her husband;
(c) if he is suffering from
a virulent form of leprosy;
(d) if he has any other wife
living;
(e) if he keeps a concubine
in the same house in which his wife is living
or habitually resides with a concubine elsewhere;
(f) if he has ceased to be
a Hindu by conversion to another religion;
(g) if there is any other
cause justifying her living separately.
(3) A Hindu wife shall not
be entitled to separate residence and maintenance
from her husband if she is unchaste or ceases
to be a Hindu by conversion to another religion.
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