Does the amount fixed as interim maintenance under Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure prejudge the final adjudication of the main maintenance petition?
Coram: Vikram Nath; Sandeep Mehta
No. The main petition under Section 125 of the CrPC remains pending before the Family Court and is to be decided on its own merits without being influenced by the findings recorded in the interim orders under challenge.
Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 — Section 125 — Interim maintenance — Revisional interference — Shared parental obligation — CrPC, 1973 — s.125 — Interim maintenance — Revisional interference — Held: A revisional court cannot reduce interim maintenance fixed by the Family Court without a finding that its assessment was perverse or that the amount awarded was excessive; it gave no such finding here. (¶9) CrPC, 1973 — s.125 — Shared parental obligation — Non-monetary contribution — Held further: The obligation to maintain children is shared by both parents, but is not divided by arithmetic alone; the wife also earning is not, by itself, ground to halve the father's liability, since her care of the children is a real contribution too. (¶9, 10) CrPC, 1973 — s.125 — Interim order restored — Held further: The High Court's order reducing interim maintenance is set aside and the Family Court's order restored, with arrears payable within three months; the main maintenance petition remains to be decided on its own merits. Appeal allowed. (¶14, 15, 16)
One judgment a day. That's the whole habit.
Read the full text of SUJATA KUMARI & ORS v. RAHUL KUMAR & ANR — and get the Supreme Court's output as a five-minute daily read, with plain-language headnotes and the questions each judgment settles.
Create my free accountFree forever plan · 30 seconds · data stays in India