Estranged wife to get maintenance

In the present case, the woman separated from her first husband in 2005 after the couple signed an MoU, though no formal legal decree of divorce was obtained.

- Utkarsh Anand

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has directed a man to pay maintenance to his estranged wife, despite her previous marriage being legally subsisting, emphasizing that a strict legal interpretation should not be allowed to defeat the humanitarian purpose of the provision that seeks to protect women from destitution.

In a significant ruling reinforcing the social justice objective of maintenance under Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), a bench comprising justices BV Nagarathna and Satish Chandra Sharma highlighted that the objective of maintenance provisions should not be thwarted solely due to the absence of a formal divorce decree when other facts support the woman's version.

"When the social justice objective of maintenance under Section 125 of CrPC is considered against the particular facts and circumstances of this case, we cannot, in good conscience, deny maintenance to appellant no. 1 (woman),"" the bench held in its recent judgment.

The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, the new law that has replaced the CrPC with effect from July 1 2024, has retained the older provision on alimony under Section 144.