Supreme Court: Maintenance proceedings under Section 125 CrPC are civil proceedings, should not be equated with criminal proceedings

The Supreme Court in the case Rina Kumari @ Rina Devi @ Reena Versus Dinesh Kumar Mahto @ Dinesh Kumar Mahato and another noted that maintenance proceedings under Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, CrPC are essentially civil in nature and should not be equated with criminal proceedings merely because they involve a penal consequence.

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The bench comprising of CJI Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar was hearing the present matter.

The bench in the case remarked that, 'Even if non-compliance with an order for payment of maintenance entails penal consequences, as may other decrees of a Civil Court, such proceedings would not qualify as or become criminal proceedings. Thus, the nomenclature of maintenance proceedings initiated as stated under the Code of Criminal Procedure, CrPC as the said provisions find place therein, cannot be held to be conclusive as to the nature of such proceedings.'