ISSUE:
Whether Cuddapah or Madras should be counted as the place where the “parties had last resided together” for the purpose of Section 19 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955?
Is Section 9 of the Hindu Marriage Act liable to be struck down as violative of the fundamental rights, more particularly articles 14, 19 and 21 inasmuch as the statutory relief of restitution of conjugal rights offends the guarantee to life, personal liberty and human dignity and decency?
RULE:
By treating the wife and the husband who are inherently unequal as equals, section 9 of the Act offends the rule of equal protection of laws. For that reason the formal equality that section 9 of the Act ensures cannot be accepted as constitutional. Section 9 promotes no legitimate public purpose or is based on any conception of the general good. Section 9 should therefore be held to be arbitrary and void as offending Article 14 of the Constitution.”