Can’t deny aid to estranged wife for refusing to return: SC

In a landmark ruling that strengthens a woman’s right to autonomy, the Supreme Court on Friday held that a man cannot deny maintenance to his estranged wife solely because she refuses to live with him despite the husband securing a decree of restitution of conjugal rights. The judgment, delivered by a bench comprising Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and justice PV Sanjay Kumar, clarified that there cannot be a blanket denial of maintenance under Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code The judgment, delivered by a bench comprising Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and justice PV Sanjay Kumar, clarified that there cannot be a blanket denial of maintenance under Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code to a wife who declines to return to her husband, even if a court has previously ruled in the husband’s favour for restitution of conjugal rights. “The preponderance of judicial thought weighs in favour of upholding the wife’s right to maintenance under Section 125 of CrPC and the mere passing of a decree for restitution of conjugal rights at the husband’s behest and non-compliance therewith by the wife would not, by itself, be sufficient to attract the disqualification under Section 125 of CrPC,” declared the bench. The judgment further declared: “In any event, a decree for restitution of conjugal rights secured by a husband coupled with non-compliance therewith by the wife would not be determinative straightaway either of her right to maintenance or the applicability of the disqualification under Section 125 of CrPC.” In the facts of the present case, the bench set aside the Jharkhand high court’s August 2023 judgment denying the woman maintenance because she did not join her husband despite the decree of restitution of conjugal rights.