The Allahabad High Court has said that a man cannot avoid his responsibility of maintaining his wife on grounds of financial hardship, observing that if someone feels unable to take on such responsibility, he should not enter into marriage.
A bench of Justices Atul Sreedharan and Vivek Saran dismissed a plea by a husband who challenged a family court order directing him to pay maintenance during the pendency of a matrimonial dispute.
"Once a man marries a woman, he is bound under the law to maintain her," the bench said. The case relates to Tej Bahadur Maurya, who was directed by the family court to pay Rs 4,000 as interim maintenance to his wife.
He had moved the high court arguing that the family court did not properly consider his financial condition while passing the order.
He also claimed that his wife was living with another man and pointed to what he described as a mutual separation recorded through an affidavit. The bench noted that the family court had already taken these claims into account.
It also considered the wife’s submission that she is supporting her children and has no independent source of income.
In its order dated April 7, the court said the amount could not be termed excessive or beyond the appellant’s means, given the present cost of living.
The court also rejected the claim that Maurya is only a labourer, noting that no supporting material had been placed before it.