Hindu Minority and Guardianship — Overview — KSLU Family Law 1 Notes

Hindu Minority and Guardianship — Overview

In Gita Hariharan v. Reserve Bank of India (1999), a Hindu mother applied to open a bank account for her minor child. The RBI refused, citing Section 6, HMGA 1956, which placed the father first as natural guardian. The Supreme Court read the provision constitutionally to avoid gender discrimination, holding that a mother can act as natural guardian whenever the father is absent or incapable — not merely after he dies. That single ruling transformed what “natural guardian” means for Hindu mothers in practice.

A minor is a person who has not completed 18 years (S.4(a), HMGA 1956; Indian Majority Act, 1875 — 21 if a court-appointed guardian exists). A guardian is “a person having the care of the person of a minor or of his property, or of both” (S.4(b), HMGA 1956), whose paramount duty under Section 13 is always the welfare of the minor.