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“While deciding the main application under Section 144, Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023, the Family Court should take into consideration the income and financial capacity of both parents and determine the amount of maintenance in a just and reasonable manner keeping in view the principle of shared parental responsibility and the welfare of the minor child.”
“The concept of moral obligation, howsoever compelling it may appear, cannot be enforced as a legal obligation in the absence of a statutory mandate.”
“Now the convenience of the wife/lady is not the paramount consideration for deciding the transfer applications and alternatives to transfer proceedings have been provided.”
“The capacity to earn and actual earning are distinct concepts, and as per settled law, mere capacity to earn cannot be a ground to deny maintenance. The real test is whether the wife is actually earning.”
“The Court is unable to accept the submission that mere employment or earning of the wife is, by itself, a ground to deny maintenance. The object of Section 125 CrPC is not merely to prevent destitution, but to ensure that the wife is able to live with dignity, consistent with the status of the husband.”
“She is entitled in law to lead a life in the similar manner as she would have lived in the house of her husband, as that is where the status and strata come into place, and that is where the obligations of the husband, in case of a wife, become prominent.”
“If a wife, by her own acts or omissions, causes or contributes to the incapacity of her husband to earn, she cannot be permitted to take advantage of such a situation and claim maintenance.”
“At the stage of consideration of interim maintenance, this Court is neither expected nor required to embark upon a detailed inquiry or conduct a mini trial to resolve such disputes conclusively.”
“The statutory right of the wife to maintenance cannot be permitted to be parted away and infringed by setting up a case that she had the capacity to earn.”
“To raise the presumption of a valid marriage for Section 125 of CrPC based on cohabitation, the couple must be qualified to marry and not be within the prohibited degrees of marriage.”
“The Family Court’s order directing husband to pay maintenance had already been challenged in the criminal revision proceedings, and therefore, allowing the present petition would permit the husband to adopt two parallel proceedings after electing one.”
“The mother has lawfully remarried, is now the mother of two children from her second marriage and has not interfered in the life of her former husband or his family.”
“We are aware that relationship between the parties had gone so bitter that neither of them was having any empathy for the other, but even this kind of relationship cannot be an excuse to make false allegations regarding the moral character of the other party.”
“However, even presuming that for the sake of discussion the marriage between the husband and wife is void, still the wife is entitled to claim maintenance under Section 125 of the CrPC.”
Though her status as an Advocate was not disputed, the Court held that the wife and children were required to be maintained in law, commensurate to the standard of living of the husband/father.
“Maintenance claims require disclosure affidavits of assets and liabilities, balanced assessment of needs and quantum based on factors like parties’ status, reasonable need and income.”
Matrimonial litigation, particularly where financial dependency and concealment are alleged, demands a sensitive and pragmatic approach. The documents and witnesses sought to be introduced by the wife are not collateral or immaterial but rather, directly affect determination of maintenance which is a matter of subsistence.
The Court held that a woman having lived as a wife, borne children, and been deserted without support, falls within the protective umbrella of Section 125 CrPC and the technical plea of invalidity of marriage cannot be a valid ground to deny her maintenance.
“The parties are dark complexioned people, but their child was fair complexioned. That is the reason why the dispute arose, and the husband started to physically harass the wife and drove her out of the matrimonial house along with the child.”
“The statutory provisions for maintenance are intended to protect the spouse, children or parents from destitution and vagrancy, and they declare the public policy of the nation. Thus, the above legal principle is equally applicable to an agreement attempting to contract out of the provisions of the Act.”