Wife's consent for Hindu adoption must be clearly proved; presence at the ceremony or a registered deed is not enough.

A valid adoption by a Hindu male with a living wife requires the wife's consent under the proviso to Section 7 of the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956, unless a statutory exception applies. That consent must be proved by clear affirmative evidence and cannot be inferred merely from the wife's presence at the ceremony or silence. A registered adoption deed may raise a rebuttable presumption under Section 16, but it does not dispense with proof of consent where validity is challenged. On the evidence, the wife was only a spectator and no active consent was shown, so the concurrent findings upholding the adoption were perverse and could not be sustained. The adoption was held invalid.

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Issues: Whether the adoption of Ghisalal by Gopalji was valid in the absence of proved consent of Gopalji's wife, as required by the proviso to Section 7 of the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956; and whether the concurrent findings upholding the adoption could be sustained.

Analysis: The proviso to Section 7 makes the wife's consent a condition precedent to a valid adoption by a male Hindu having a living wife, unless the statutory exceptions apply. Consent must be shown by clear affirmative conduct or other reliable evidence; mere presence of the wife at the adoption ceremony, or silence and absence of protest, cannot by itself amount to consent. A registered adoption deed may attract the presumption under Section 16, but that presumption is rebuttable and does not dispense with proof of the wife's consent where validity is challenged. On the evidence, the wife was shown only as a spectator, there was no proof that she actively participated or affirmatively consented, and the Courts below had proceeded on assumptions and conjectures, rendering their finding perverse.

Conclusion: The adoption was not valid for want of the wife's consent, and the concurrent finding to the contrary could not be sustained.

Ratio Decidendi: For a valid adoption by a Hindu male having a living wife, the wife's consent under the proviso to Section 7 of the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 must be proved by clear affirmative evidence and cannot be presumed merely from her presence at the ceremony or from a registered adoption deed.

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