DV ACT AND DENIAL OF INTERIM AND FINAL MAINTENANCE TO STEPSON

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Under settled law, a step-son from the wife’s previous marriage is not automatically entitled to maintenance from the step-father under the DV Act or Section 125 CrPC, unless there is legal adoption or a clear statutory obligation. The consistent judicial position is: • Maintenance under DV Act is confined to an “aggrieved person” and her children from the domestic relationship • A biological child from the wife’s first marriage does not acquire a right against the step-father merely because the child resides in the shared household Key judicial principles relied upon by High Courts and the Supreme Court: 1️Section 125 CrPC – Liability is on the biological or adoptive father, not the step-father. 2️ DV Act – Does not create an independent maintenance right in favour of a step-child 3️ Interim maintenance granted to step-children has been set aside where no adoption or legal obligation is proved High Courts (including Delhi, Bombay, Karnataka & Telangana) have repeatedly held that grant of maintenance to a step-child is legally unsustainable in absence of adoption. The Supreme Court has affirmed that maintenance law cannot be stretched beyond statutory limits.

Advocate Pavani Kumari LawRato