The Rajasthan High Court has sharply criticised the traditional “Aata-Sata” marriage custom, describing it as legally and morally bankrupt and labelling it an “inhuman barter system involving human lives.” The practice, prevalent in parts of Rajasthan, involves families exchanging daughters including minors in a reciprocal “give and take” arrangement.
In a detailed ruling, a division bench comprising Justice Arun Monga and Justice Sunil Beniwal overturned a family court decision and granted divorce to a woman from Bikaner. The court clarified that matrimonial disputes should be adjudicated on the basis of preponderance of probabilities, rather than the stricter “beyond reasonable doubt” standard applied in criminal trials.
The woman was married on March 31, 2016, according to Hindu rites. On the same day, under the Aata-Sata system, her husband’s minor sister was married to the woman’s brother. After reaching adulthood, the girl declined to honour the child marriage, sparking conflicts between the families. The appellant alleged that she faced physical and mental cruelty, including demands for dowry, and was eventually ousted from her matrimonial home on March 19, 2020, along with her young daughter.
She filed complaints against her husband and father-in-law, leading to a police chargesheet. In response, the husband lodged a complaint against her father and brother. The family court in Bikaner rejected her divorce petition on September 24, 2025, accepting the husband’s claim that she had left voluntarily and that the cases were filed to exert pressure following his sister’s refusal.
The High Court found that the lower court had erred by mixing the broader family discord stemming from the Aata-Sata arrangement with the specific issue of cruelty between the spouses. During proceedings, the woman’s counsel stated she was prepared to waive all claims for past, present, or future maintenance in exchange for dissolution of the marriage. The court accepted this and allowed the divorce.
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The bench emphasised that the divorce decree would not affect pending criminal cases or child custody matters, which would proceed independently under the law. Citing the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, the court observed that such exchange practices reduce children, especially girls, to objects in a “marital barter” and resemble “matrimonial hostage taking,” where one daughter’s future depends on another’s compliance. It stressed that no custom stands above the law and that consent shaped by childhood conditioning cannot be considered free once a person attains majority.
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