Disclaimer: This has been reported after the availability of the order of the Court and not on media reports so as to give an accurate report to our readers.
Madhya Pradesh High Court: In a revision petition filed by an alleged child marriage victim seeking enhancement of maintenance, the Single Judge Bench of Gajendra Singh, J., partially allowed the application, holding that she could not be denied a reasonable amount of maintenance and the amount of Rs 2000 per month could not be justified. Accordingly, the maintenance amount was enhanced from Rs 2000 to Rs 6000 per month from the date of application.
The Court observed that,
“Parents, who are instrumental in solemnizing such marriage cannot escape from the liability. If the husband feels hardships then he has to take help of those parents who were instrumental in performing the child marriage.”
Also read: Child Marriages Rising in U.P.: Allahabad HC Flags Systemic Gap, Directs DGP to Issue Guidelines
Background
The parties got married in 2015, but in 2021, the wife alleged cruelty, neglect of maintenance, insufficiency of means of the husband, and inability to maintain herself and claimed Rs12,000 per month as maintenance. The husband alleged that the wife was 13 years old and he was 18 years old at the time of marriage. He also claimed that soon after marriage, he shifted to Udaipur, and no physical relations were established. Furthermore, she was not interested in living a matrimonial life with her husband.
Appreciating the evidence, the Family Court allowed the application partially by granting Rs 2000 per month as maintenance under Section 125, Criminal Procedure Code, 1973, from the date of the order, i.e. 19 April 2023.
Aggrieved, the wife filed the present criminal revision under Section 19(4), Family Courts Act, 1984.
Analysis
The Court stated that if the husband’s defense was prima facie considered, then the wife was a victim of child marriage and, thereafter, in the garb of customs, she was again being victimised by the meagre amount of maintenance. She could not be denied a reasonable amount of maintenance.
“It is a sad picture of the rights of the girls.”
The Court further remarked that “Parents, who are instrumental in solemnizing such marriage, cannot escape from the liability. If the husband feels hardships, then he has to take the help of those parents who were instrumental in performing the child marriage.”
Thus, the Court held that the amount of Rs 2000 per month could not be justified and required enhancement. Accordingly, the revision petition was partly allowed, and the maintenance amount was enhanced from Rs 2000 to Rs 6000 per month from the date of application, i.e. 7 August 2021.
[R v. S, Misc. Criminal Revision No. 2566 of 2023, decided on 29-5-2026]
Advocates who appeared in this case:
For the petitioner: Nitin Joshi
For the respondent: Subodh Choudhary
