Chhattisgarh High Court: : In a set of two criminal revision petitions filed against the judgment passed by Family Court, whereby, the husband was directed to pay R. 4000/- per month as maintenance to the wife under Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (‘CrPC’), a Single Judge Bench of Arvind Kumar Verma, J., allowed the petition filed by the husband, holding that a divorced wife who lived in adultery, i.e., lived in illicit relationship with man other than her former husband, was disqualified from claiming maintenance under Section 125 of the CrPC.
Background
In 2019, the couple got married as per Hindu rites and rituals. Allegedly, after a few days of marriage, the wife was subjected to mental torture, and her character was questioned by the husband. Aggrieved, she left the matrimonial home and went to her paternal home in 2021. Thereafter, she filed an application under Section 125 of the CrPC for the grant of maintenance of Rs. 20,000 per month as she was unable to maintain herself.
In the same year, the husband filed the divorce petition under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 (‘HMA’), and in 2023, the divorce was granted by the Family Court on the ground of adultery.
The husband contended that after a few months of marriage, the wife’s behaviour changed, and she began quarrelling over every trivial issue. He further argued that his wife had an illicit relationship with his younger brother, and when he objected to the same, she fought with him. She also threatened to file false and frivolous cases against him. He added that he was working as a Data Entry Operator temporarily and earns Rs. 17,131 and had no alternate source of income.
After appreciating the facts, the Family Court passed the impugned judgment directing the husband to pay maintenance of Rs. 4,000 per month to the wife. Hence, these criminal revisions.
Analysis
After noting the timeline of the case, the Court stated that Section 125(4) of the CrPC provides that if a woman whose marriage is still subsisting lives in adultery, she is not entitled to maintenance from her husband. The Court added that if a decree for divorce is granted on the ground of the wife living in adultery, the said disqualification of adultery, which she was suffering from during the subsistence of the marriage, would not cease to exist because of the divorce decree. The decree obtained by the husband for divorce on proving the adulterous life of the wife could not give a license to her to continue to live in an illicit relationship and to revive her right to claim maintenance. Therefore, the Court held that a divorced wife, who lived in adultery, i.e., lived in an illicit relationship with a man other than her former husband, was disqualified from claiming maintenance under Section 125 of the CrPC. In this regard, the Court referred to Shanthakumari v. Thimmegowda, 2023 SCC OnLine Kar 66.
The Court further held that if once the decree for divorce was granted on the ground of adultery, such a finding was relevant for deciding the issue of adultery in the present case. The decree was passed on proof of the claim made by means of sufficient evidence which had not been challenged by the aggrieved party. The Court opined that the decree for divorce granted by the Family Court in favour of the husband was sufficient proof that the wife was living in adultery.
Considering the aforesaid legal proposition of law and the facts of the case, the Court held that once such a decree was in force, the Court could not take a different view contrary to the Civil court. Therefore, the Court quashed the impugned judgment thereby allowing the revision petition filed by the husband and dismissing the one filed by the wife.
[Resham Lal Dewangan v. Suman Dewangan, CRR No. 1322 of 2024 and CRR No. 58 of 2025, decided on 09-05-2025]
Advocates who appeared in this case:
For the petitioner: P. Acharya
For the respondent: Shubhank Tiwari
