WOMEN NOW BEING DENIED OR ASKED TO PAY MAINTENANCE IN DIVORCE SETTLEMENTS

The husband paying maintenance to an estranged/ex-wife is the textbook model for divorce proceedings. However, in a recent trend, courts have been denying maintenance to the wife if she is capable of earning or was earning in the past. There have also been cases in which the court has told the wife to pay maintenance to the husband. Even the wives, in a hurry to end the marriage, are opting for out-of-court settlements and paying their husbands a permanent alimony.
MAINTENANCE PLEA BY THE WIFE REJECTED In a recent judgement, a trial court in Delhi denied the plea of a woman seeking maintenance from her husband. The court dismissed the woman’s plea seeking residential maintenance from her estranged husband, and observed that no financial assistance can be provided to a woman if she earns as much as her husband.
Anuradha Shukla Bharadwaj, additional sessions judge, observed, “In the era of gender equality, bias cannot be shown to one gender and discretionary relief of financial assistance cannot be granted to wives despite their capability to earn as much as their husbands.“
The court, reportedly, said that rental maintenance would have been awarded to the wife had she proved that she was incapable of arranging accommodation for herself. However, in this case, she was living with her mother.
Although uncommon, it is not the first time that a court has denied maintenance to the wife. There have been cases in which the court has supported the husband and denied the wife’s plea for maintenance.
Advocate Samama Suhail reveals a similar case, “The husband was an NRI, and the wife was working with a multinational bank, earning a salary of `60,000`70,000. They had a troubled marriage, so the wife filed for divorce. She asked for maintenance under Sec tion 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, from her husband. However, her plea for maintenance was rejected and the court ruled that since she was earning well, she didn’t need her husband’s money to survive, despite the fact that he was quite well-off.“
FAMILY RESOURCE CAKE According to advocate Prabhjit Jauhar, it is not necessary that either of the party has to pay maintenance to the other in divorce cases. Says Jauhar, “In 2004, Justice Vikramjeet Sen of the Delhi High Court (as he then was) worked out a formula involving a `family resource cake’ in order to provide maintenance to even working wives. Justice Sen, in the said judgment, combined the income of both the spouses, calling it the `family resource cake.’ Half of the `cake’ was allocated to the husband to meet his expenses, and the other half to the wife and children, for their maintenance. This method has been widely followed by other courts in Delhi when awarding maintenance to either spouse.“
IN FAVOUR OF THE HUSBAND Although in most cases, the wife is awarded maintenance to enjoy the same lifestyle as that of the husband, there are also instances where the reverse happens. Not only is the wife refused maintenance, in certain cases, she is also asked to pay maintenance to the husband. Advocate Osama Suhail recalls a case in Delhi where the court granted maintenance to the husband. He shares, “In this case, the Karkardooma Court granted maintenance in favour of the husband, who was suffering from a mental disorder, while the wife had a government job. The wife earned about `20,000, and the husband was granted a maintenance of `2,000.“ He adds, “I have seen many applications in which the husband has asked for maintenance but has been dismissed by courts, despite the fact that he was entitled to it, as the court followed the principle that the husband is supposed to be the breadwinner of the family . Although Section 24 of the Hindu Marriage Act (HMA) is written in a very gender-neutral manner, its interpretation is broadly in favour of women, and thereby discriminatory .“