Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 - Case law - Captain Ramesh Chander Kaushal vs Mrs. Veena Kaushal And Others..
Bench: D Desai, V K Iyer
Facts:
- The respondent Veena, who married Capt. Kaushal, the petitioner, and bore two young children by him, form the tragic background of this case.
- The woman claimed that her husband was rich and once affectionate, but his romantic tenderness turned into an submissive tantrums after he ascended into the sky as a pilot of Indian Airlines Corporation.
- The next was desertification, cruelty, and family disintegration, making urban society life pointless with the frequency of injuries that were inflicted upon the wife.
- The descendants of the young marriage were two innocent and two litigations. One for divorce, by the husband, hurling charges of adultery, and the other for maintenance, by the wife, flinging charges of affluent cruelty and diversion of affection after the Airlines assignment.
Issues:
- Whether the awardable maximum maintenance for mother and children, as a whole under section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure was Rs. 500?
Contentions of the Appellant:
- The husband claimed divorce on the ground that the wife had adulterous relationship with another man.
- The husband sought divorce through civil court.
Contentions of the Respondent:
- The wife seeked divorce on the ground of cruelty and diversion of attention.
- The wife claimed maintenance through the criminal Court.
Background:
The district court heard the views of both parties and awarded maintenance as an interim relief, and the High Court established the amount at Rs.400 per month. In the meantime, the magistrate ordered the monthly maintenance, based on the evidence available before him to Rs. 1000 per month for mom and two children.
Judgment:
- Section 125 CrPC, is a measure of social justice and has been specifically adopted to protect women and children falls within the constitutional sweep of Article 15(3) reinforced by Article 39.
- While drafting this Provision the intention of the Legislature was clear, to help wife or child, to male an obligation on the husband to fulfill his obligations to a wife or child.
- Obligations are separate and independent for each person who needs to be supported. When the term “in the whole” is used, it makes no sense that the legislature was limiting the jurisdiction of the Magistrate to passing an order in respect of all the persons whom he is bound to maintain allowing them maintenance not exceeding a sum of one hundred rupees.
- The divorce procedure does not benefit one party, and appeal is still pending. Regardless of whether the appeal ends with a divorce or not, the spouse’s right to maintenance will remain in accordance with section 125 explanation (b) of the Code, unless the parties make adjustments and agree to the amount of maintenance.
