The Allahabad High Court has set aside a Family Court order rejecting a woman’s maintenance claim, holding that a divorced wife is entitled to maintenance under Section 125 CrPC as long as she is unable to maintain herself and has not remarried, even where the divorce decree was passed on the ground of her desertion. She is not entitled to maintenance for the period before the decree, but is entitled from the date of divorce, and her minor son is entitled to maintenance until he attains majority. The matter was remitted for a fresh decision.
The Madhya Pradesh High Court held that a woman married during childhood cannot be denied reasonable maintenance, observing that she was victimised first by child marriage and later by being awarded a meagre maintenance amount. The Court emphasised the need to protect the rights and dignity of women.
The Allahabad High Court held that a mother’s alleged remarriage cannot defeat the independent statutory right of minor children to claim maintenance from their biological father, reaffirming that a father’s obligation to maintain his children continues regardless of matrimonial disputes or changes in the mother’s marital status.
