A Judicially separated wife can also avail maintenance allowance, says SC

A bench of Justice Madan B Lokur and Justice Dipak Gupta ruled that a judicially separated wife is also entitled to maintenance from her husband like a divorced wife. The Supreme Court while setting aside a previous judgement of the Patna High Court held that a wife cannot be prevented from receiving maintenance merely on the ground of being judicially separated and not divorced. The wife, who is the petitioner in the case had applied for maintenance under Section 125 Crpc. The Trial Court then directed the husband to pay her a sum of Rs. 4000 per month as allowance. Aggrieved by the decision of the Trial Court, the husband filed a revision petition in the High Court of Patna. The High Court while setting aside the decision of the Trial Court held that the wife is not entitled to maintenance as the Trial Court did not provide any finding on the fact that she is unable to maintain herself. However, the Supreme Court rejected the view of the High Court and asked it to again look into the matter and determine whether the wife is entitled to maintenance allowance or not and what should be the quantum of such maintenance. The bench also asked the High Court to keep in mind the fact that she has not been paid any maintenance allowance since last nine years. The husband, who is the respondent in the case, contended that according to Section 125(4) of Crpc. he is not required to pay any maintenance to his wife as already a decree of judicial separation is there. The Section provides that no wife shall be entitled to receive an allowance from her husband if they are living separately by mutual consent. The Supreme Court while remanding the matter to the High Court, said that the High Court has misdirected itself as there exists no reason why a wife who is judicially separated and not able to maintain herself should be disallowed the maintenance. The order of the Supreme Court would act as a great relief for the judicially separated wives who are unable to maintain themselves after marriage. The courts should not make any discrimination between a divorced and a judicially separated wife when it comes to providing maintenance allowance. Rather it should decide the case on the ground of the capacity of the wife to maintain herself.