HC cites wife's adultery, sets aside lower court order granting her maintenance

RAIPUR: Chhattisgarh high court (HC), citing a woman’s adulterous conduct, ruled against her plea for maintenance from her estranged husband.

Justice Arvind Kumar Verma gave the ruling while hearing two criminal revision petitions challenging a Raipur family court order to the husband to pay Rs 4,000 monthly maintenance to his wife. Both the parties had challenged the decision — the husband sought complete annulment while the wife demanded it to be increased to Rs 20,000.

The husband’s counsel argued the wife was not eligible for maintenance as she was in an adulterous relationship with his younger brother. This was established through a divorce decree granted by the family court on Sept 8, 2023, the counsel said.

Family court overlooked this crucial evidence & disregarded CrPC section 125(4), which explicitly disallows maintenance for a wife living in adultery or leaving her marital home without a valid reason, the counsel said.

The wife’s counsel refuted the adultery claim, arguing that any past extramarital affair was not a ‘continuous act’. The counsel stressed that “living in adultery” necessitates an ongoing illicit relationship, which they claimed was not the case as the wife was then living with her brother and sister-in-law. They argued that Rs 4,000 in maintenance was not enough, considering the wife’s lack of independent income and the husband’s alleged multiple revenue sources.

HC observed that the divorce decree, granted on the grounds of the wife’s adultery, constituted legal proof of her disqualification under section 125(4) CrPC.

HC allowed the husband’s revision petition and set aside the family court’s maintenance order. The wife’s petition seeking enhancement of maintenance was dismissed.