Supreme Court Ruling: The Supreme Court on Wednesday (July 10) said that a divorced Muslim woman is entitled to maintenance from her husband under Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). She can file a petition for this.
A bench of Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice Augustine George Masih gave this order while dismissing the petition of a Muslim youth. The court said that the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986 will not prevail over secular law.
Justice Nagarathna said – We are dismissing the appeal with the conclusion that Section 125 of CrPC will apply to all women and not only married women.
The bench asked whether the petitioner had paid anything to his wife during the Iddat period? To this, the petitioner said that he had offered a draft of Rs 15,000, but his wife did not take it. Iddat is the period after divorce when the wife is not allowed to marry or have a relationship with anyone.
Let us tell you that from July 1, the Indian Civil Security Code (BNSS) has replaced the CrPC. Section 144 of the BNSS has all the same provisions as Section 125 of the CrPC.
Table of Contents
Know what is Section 125 of CrPC Section 125
Know what is Section 125 of CrPC Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) (now Section 144 of BNSS) has a provision for maintenance. According to this, no person who has sufficient means to maintain himself can refuse to provide maintenance to his wife, children and parents.
Definition of wife in section 125 of CrPC
Definition of wife in section 125 of CrPC Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) (now section 144 of BNSS) defines a wife as any age – minor or adult. Wife means a woman who is legally married. The validity of marriage will be governed by personal laws. If the fact of a legally valid marriage is disputed, the applicant will have to prove the marriage. Marriages performed by garlanding each other were declared void.
Wife is not entitled to allowance due to these three reasons
1- He is with another partner.
2- Refuses to live with her husband without any valid reason.
3- If husband and wife are living separately with mutual consent.
The Bombay High Court had said that a Muslim husband will have to take responsibility of his divorced wife for his entire life
While hearing another case in January this year, the Bombay High Court had said that even if a divorced Muslim woman gets married again, she is entitled to get alimony from her former husband for her entire life under the Muslim Women Protection of Rights on Divorce Act 1986 (MWPA).
According to TOI, a single bench of Justice Rajesh Patil said that the fact of divorce itself is sufficient for the wife to claim maintenance under Section 3(1)(a). Along with this, the court dismissed the husband’s challenge to two orders of paying lump sum alimony to the ex-wife. The court has ordered the husband to pay Rs 9 lakh as alimony to his ex-wife.
