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Supreme Court Of India

(From : 1999 (38) All Cri C 798)

Hon'ble Judge(s): S. Saghir Ahmad, D. P. Wadhwa , JJ

Criminal P.C. (2 of 1974) , S.125(4)— Maintenance allowance - Divorced woman continues to enjoy status of 'wife' for claiming maintenance - Plea that divorce was on account of desertion by wife, irrelevant. A wife against whom a decree for divorce has been passed on account of her deserting the husband can claim Maintenance Allowance under Section 125, Cr. P.C. and the plea of desertion by wife cannot be treated to be an effective plea in support of the husband's refusal to pay her the Maintenance Allowance. After decree for divorce is passed she is under no obligation to live with the husband but though marital relations come to an end by the divorce granted by family Court under S. 13 of Hindu Marriage Act, the respondent continues to be wife within meaning of S. 125, Cr. P.C. on account of Expln. (b) to sub-sec (1) of S. 125 which provides that a woman who has been divorced by her husband on account of a decree passed by the Family Court under the Hindu Marriage Act, continues to enjoy the status of a wife for the limited purpose of claiming Maintenance Allowance from her ex-husband. As a wife, she is entitled to maintenance unless she suffers from any of the disabilities indicated in Section 125(4). In another capacity, namely, as a divorced woman, she is again entitled to claim maintenance from the person of whom she was once the wife. A woman after div....