On Monday Apex court confirmed that right to maintain a wife was absolute. There cannot be omissions on this and said that Section 125 of CrPC will apply even to the divorced Muslim ladies also. No exceptions can be allowed to this.
A bench including Justices Dipak Misra and PC Pant told that even if the husband is fit and fine where he can upkeep himself is under legal responsibility to support his better half too. Under Section 125 CrPC a wife’s right to get maintenance is an unconditional right unless and until it is disqualified.
Apex court further stated that maintenance which is provided under the said section will apply even to divorced Muslim women and she will also get maintenance until she remarries. Court further confirmed that the amount of maintenance which a Muslim women gets under Section 125 CrPC will not be only for Iddat period, where the Court considered previous ruling of a constitution bench. This explanation by Court will certainly help all divorced Muslim women whose maintenance right was abridged earlier by parliament, when a law was passed during Rajiv Gandhi government on it. The court’s ruling will clearly state that civil law of land will succeed over any personal laws, as family courts since many years have carved down the law to provide assistance to divorced Muslim women.
Court further said that if a plea is brought by husband stating that he cannot maintain as he has no means to pay his wife and he has no job or his business is under loss etc are excuses not acceptable by the court as they do not have acceptability under the law. This was decided in a matter relating to Shamima Farooqui from Lucknow and her husband Shahid Khan. He was working as a Nayak in Army and earning around Rs 17,654 a month and thus the family court previously which had granted her Rs 2,000 per month amplified to Rs 4,000 per month as she told the court that she had no other means of support in her life.
by Sushma Javare.