Mere stay of a married woman with another man in the same house cannot be construed as an act of adultery to deprive her of alimony from the estranged husband, the Delhi High Court has ruled.
“To conclude adultery, where civil consquences spelt out under section 125(4) are to be inferred, the party likely to be effected has to be given reasonable and fair opportunity to meet and rebut the charge,” said Justice S Ravinder Bhat in a recent order asked the husband to give the interim maintenance of Rs 5000 per month to his wife.
Directing the trial court to dispose of within four months the main petition filed by the wife claiming alimony, Justice Bhat said under section 125 of CrPC (order for maintenance) the court should consider the maintenance claim of the wife irrespective of her involvement in adultery or infidelity.
“Section 125 entitles a woman for maintenance, makes no distinction whether the cause of her approaching the court is adultery or infidelity of the husband,” the Court said and asked the husband to pay Rs 60,000 immediately to his wife.
The court also suggested that “without entering into the logic of this enforcement of morality through the legal process, the court should loath to rush into conclusions, adding that “it should be satisfied about the soundness of the charge and cannot be content to elevate allegations into findings.”
Justice Bhat directed both the husband and the wife to appear before the trial court on July 10 for further hearing of the petition for alimony.