(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.
Legal Commentary & Landmark Judgments: Section 18
Section 18 of the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 codifies the statutory right of a Hindu wife to claim maintenance and separate residence from her husband.
Under sub-section (3), the wife forfeits her maintenance claim if she is unchaste or ceases to be a Hindu by conversion to another religion.
Section 18 is a substantive, independent civil remedy. Unlike Section 24 of the Hindu Marriage Act, which requires a pending matrimonial petition, a suit under Section 18 HAMA can be filed independently before a Family Court without seeking divorce or judicial separation. The broad catch-all clause in Section 18(2)(g)—'any other cause justifying living separately'—is frequently invoked where subtle psychological cruelty or constructive expulsion makes cohabitation unendurable.