Right of Divorced Wife for Grant of Maintenance under Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973
- Category: Maintenance
- Date: 05-09-2017
The maintenance measures acquiesced by laws is not to punish a person for his past neglect or refusal, but to prevent vagrancy of those who cannot support or maintain themselves.
The maintenance measures acquiesced by laws is not to punish a person for his past neglect or refusal, but to prevent vagrancy of those who cannot support or maintain themselves. The provisions of maintenance of the Code of Criminal Procedure are pertinent to persons belonging to all religions and have no affiliation with the personal laws of the parties.
According to the Supreme Court, any delay in maintenance to wife is equivalent to the violation of human rights. The Supreme Court has ruled that family courts cannot delay the grant of maintenance to a separated wife. It further added that there is no escape for a husband from the responsibility of giving sustenance money to his wife despite their exacerbate relations.
Legal provisions concerning the order for maintenance of wives and children come under section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. As per Section 125(l) (a) of the Code , if any person having adequate resources neglects or refuses to maintain his wife who’s unable to maintain herself, then a Magistrate of the first class upon proof, can order such person to make a fixed monthly allowance for the maintenance of his ex-wife. The maintenance has to be determined in accordance to the living standards of the person concerned which she enjoyed at the place of her husband. Here ‘ex-wife’ includes every woman who has been divorced by her husband or has obtained a divorce from her husband and has not remarried yet.
