1st June, 2023 – Crl. Rev. No. – 4498 of 2022
ALLAHABAD HIGH COURT
Wife does not have the right to get maintenance from her husband if she willingly leaves the matrimonial home.
The Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 – Section 125(4) – Maintenance to wife – The husband has stated that he had filed an application for divorce and also ready to give one time alimony. The wife agrees with the fact that she left the matrimonial home of her own will. Section 125(4) CRPC, 1973, is clear that no wife shall be entitled to receive any maintenance from her husband if she refused to live with her husband. The wife had left on her own free will, therefore she is not entitled to get the benefit of maintenance provided in Section 125 of CRPC, 1973. As per Section 125(4) of The CRPC, 1973, the impugned order of granting maintenance to wife, is illegal and perverse, accordingly set aside – Revision is allowed.
The Allahabad High Court has declined to grant maintenance to a woman who voluntarily left the matrimonial home.
Justice Prashant Kumar’s bench, while hearing the case, said that it is clear from the provision of Section 125 (4) of CrPC that if a wife refuses to live with her husband, she has no right to get maintenance from her husband, and will not have rights.
The court quashed the order of the Mathura Family Court.
The woman claimed that she had not left the matrimonial home of her own free will. She had said that her in-laws used to demand more dowry than her.
It was said in the petition that the petitioner and his wife were married in 2015. After the marriage in 2017, the medical examination of the woman revealed that she could not become a mother, following which the petitioner lodged a complaint with the police against his wife and her family members. It was alleged by the petitioner that his wife and her family members had assaulted him and his family members.
The petitioner had applied for divorce in January 2018.
In February 2018, the woman filed a case against her husband and his family members under sections 498A, 504, 323, 377 of the IPC under the Dowry Prohibition Act. The counsel for the woman argued that she had not left her matrimonial home. No woman leaves her matrimonial home without any reason. She was forced to do so by her in-laws.
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