Dear PC,
Here I quote from Code of Criminal procedure by B.B.Mitra, page 330, for your information.
Cr.P.C. Sec 125(4) as follows - No Wife shall be entitled to receive an allowance from her husband under this section if she is living in adultery, or if, without any sufficient reason, she refuses to live with her husband, or if they are living separately by mutual consent.
Quote
‘without any sufficient reason’ – Sec 125(4) applies to a case of subsisting marriage and not to the case of a divorced wife.1
Therefore a divorced wife is entitled to maintenance though living separately.2
Even a wife against whom a decree for judicial separation is passed is entitled to apply for maintenance under sec 125. But if it is proved that such wife has deserted her husband within the meaning of the Explanation of ‘desertion’ to sub-sec.(1) of sec 10 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1995, she is not entitled to maintenance.3
After divorce the husband cannot ask the divorced wife to come and reside with him since she has no obligation to discharge the marital duties for claiming maintenancc.4
1. S.S. manickam v Arputha 1980 Cr LJ 354 (Mad).
2. Ravindran 1978 Cr LJ 1049.
3. Sheela v Subhas 1993 Cr LJ 848 (Bom).
4. K. Shanmukhan v G. Sarojini 1981 Cr LJ 830,832-33 (Ker).
Unquote.
HMA sec 13. Explanation.-In this sub-section, the expression "desertion" means the desertion of the petitioner by the other party to the marriage without reasonable cause and without the consent or against the wish of such party, and includes the willful neglect of the petitioner by the other party to the marriage, and its grammatical variations and cognate expressions shall be construed accordingly.
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