SECOND MARRIAGE AND CHILD, NOT VALID GROUND TO DENY MAINTENANCE TO FIRST WIFE/EX-WIFE

The Karnataka High Court recently held that after divorce, a man cannot deny the maintenance order paid to the first wife on the ground that he has a second wife and a child from the second marriage. 

Justice Krishna S Dixit said that " A Muslim man quickly contracting another marriage after pronouncing talaq upon his first marriage, cannot be heard to say that he has to maintain the new wife and the child from her as a ground for not discharging the maintenance decree." "the responsibility owed by a person to his ex-wife does not disappear by contracting another marriage." 

In 1991, the Petitioner divorced his first wife by way of talaq after eight months of marriage. Thereafter, the wife moved to the civil Court for maintenance and obtained a decree in her favor; the Court directed the Petitioner to pay 3,000 as monthly maintenance. The Petitioner was put in civil jail in 2012 for non-payment of maintenance. 

The Petitioner had challenged a civil court decree of payment of maintenance before the Karnataka HC. He argued that he could not pay maintenance to his ex-wife since he had remarried and had responsibilities. 

After advertising to the Quran and Hadith, the Court observed that the maintenance rights of a woman after divorce is conditioned on three factors-  

 - insignificant Mehr amount, 

 - the inability of the woman to sustain herself, 

 - and if she does not remarry.

The Court further spoke about the difficulties faced by divorced women, "Divorce brings a lot of difficulties to the women, divorced women in general and divorced Muslim women, in particular, experience a lot of hardship; the tears they shed are hidden in their veils; it is not that the unscrupulous men do not know all this."

The Court imposed ₹ 25,000 on the Petitioner and directed him to carry out the execution of the maintenance decree. 

Author: Papiha Ghoshal