Christian personal law
Christian personal law or family law regulates adoption, divorce, guardianship, marriage and succession in India. The provisions of canon law concerning marriage are recognised as the personal law of Roman Catholics in India. Marriages of Indian Christians are regulated by the Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872. Christian personal law is not applicable in Goa; instead, the Goa civil code is the set of civil laws that regulate the residents of the Indian state of Goa. In India as a whole, there are religion-specific civil codes that separately govern adherents of different religions. Goa is an exception to that rule in that a single secular code governs all Goans, irrespective of religion, ethnicity or linguistic affiliation.
Adoption
Christians in India can adopt children by resorting to section 41 of the Juvenile Justice Act of 2006 and the guidelines and rules issued by various state governments.Divorce
Both husband and wife can seek a divorce on the grounds of:- Adultery
- Cruelty
- Desertion for more than seven years
- Insanity for more than two years
- Incurable leprosy for more than two years
- Conversion to another religion
- Willful refusal to consummate the marriage
- Not being heard from for 7 years
- Venereal disease in communicable form for two years
- Failure to obey the order for restitution of conjugal rights
Guardianship
Christians in India are governed generally by the provisions of the Guardians and Wards Act. It deals with matters relating to guardianship of minors in respect to their person and property.Marriage
Christian marriage in India is regulated by the Indian Christian Marriage Act of 1872. The Law applies to the entirety of India except for the territories which, immediately before 1 November 1956, formed the states of Travancore-Cochin, Manipur and Jammu and Kashmir. Therefore, the act does not apply to marriages of Christians solemnised in the territories of the former states of Travancore and Cochin which now form part of Kerala.The Tamil Nadu Legislature, by its Act No 27 of 1995, extended the Indian Christian Marriage Act of 1872 to the territories of the Kanyakumari District and Sengottai Thaluk. However, civil marriages among Christians in the former princely state of Cochin are regulated by the provisions of the Cochin Christian Civil Marriage Act 1095 ME. Civil marriages among Christians in Jammu and Kashmir are regulated by the Jammu and Kashmir Christian Marriage and Divorce Act, 1957. There is no statute regulating solemnisation of marriages among Christians in Manipur; rather, customary law and personal law prevail there.