Under the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956, consent of a wife may be dispensed with if:

Under the proviso to section 7 the wife's consent may be dispensed with only where she "has completely and finally renounced the world or has ceased to be a Hindu or has been declared by a court of competent jurisdiction to be of unsound mind". An unreasonable refusal, a long absence or her being a minor is not among these exceptions.