Marital Status of a Schizophrenic Non-Muslim Spouse: Comparison Between Malaysia and India

The capacity of individuals with mental illness, including schizophrenia, to consent to marriage has been widely debated in legal and psychiatric contexts. While non-Muslim spouses with schizophrenia in Malaysia may face annulment or divorce due to mental incapacity or unreasonable behaviour, recent legal and medical perspectives emphasize individual functionality. Many with mental illness, particularly during remission or with treatment, can validly consent to marriage and sustain meaningful relationships. As such, under Malaysian non-Muslim divorce law—unlike earlier approaches or Indian practices—mental illness alone is no longer sufficient for annulment or divorce without current, evidence-based assessments of mental and functional capacity.