Response

Personal laws of Hindus and Muslims provisions prohibit incest.

Marriage between banned degrees of kinship and sapindas is forbidden in Hinduism.

According to the section 5 Hindu Marriage Act, two people cannot marry if they are within a prohibited degree of relationship.

Section 5 of the Hindu Marriage Act prohibits marriage between a brother and sister, uncle and niece, aunt and nephew, or children of a brother and sister or of two brothers or sisters, among other things unless the community’s tradition allows it, the marriage is null and invalid.

There is no definition of incest in India’s penal code.

As a result, persons who engage in incest cannot be prosecuted for the crime of incest, but they can be prosecuted for any other legal reason, such as adultery, sodomy, or rape.

Marriage between banned degrees of kinship and sapindas is forbidden in Hinduism.

Sapinda is a Sanskrit word that meaning “linked by particles of the same body.”

Sapinda connection ends after the fifth generation in the mother’s line and the seventh generation in the father’s line.

When a boy and a girl have a sapinda relationship, they are unable to marry. If the marriage takes place between sapindas, it will be termed incest.

Reference: Section 5 in The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955
Conditions for a Hindu marriage. —
A marriage may be solemnized between any two Hindus, if the following conditions are fulfilled, namely:
(iv) the parties are not within the degrees of prohibited relationship unless the custom or usage governing each of them permits of a marriage between the two;
(v) the parties are not sapindas of each other, unless the custom or usage governing each of them permits of a marriage between the two….
Schedule 1 part 2 of the special marriage act covers the laws related to prohibition of marriage.

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