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 life time.
(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 willfully 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;
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(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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