Conversion May Be Inferred from Conduct; Formal Ceremony Not Mandatory; Muslim-Born Woman’s Divorce Petition under HMA Restored: Madras High Court

The Madras High Court has ruled that when a marriage is solemnised in a Hindu temple according to Hindu rites and customs, a petition for mutual divorce under Section 13(B) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 is maintainable even if one of the parties was Muslim by birth. The judgment was delivered by Justice PB Balaji, who examined whether the absence of formal religious conversion could invalidate a divorce petition…