Court asks Raghubir Yadav to pay Rs 40K maintenance to wife

Noted actor and TV artist Raghubir Yadav has been asked to pay a monthly alimony of Rs 40,000 to his estranged wife by a Delhi court, which dismissed his plea to lower the amount.

The sessions court upheld the order of the magisterial court which had directed Yadav, who has featured in films like Massey Sahib, Lagaan, Peepli Live and Gandhi to Hitler, to pay the maintenance amount to his estranged wife, saying there was "no infirmity or illegality" in it.

"I find no infirmity or illegality in the order of the trial court, which in my opinion is going to help the petitioner (Yadav) rather being adverse to him, in fixing the maintenance at a lower rate for earlier period and fixing at higher rate for further period. Accordingly, revision petition is dismissed," Additional Sessions Judge Anuradha Shukla Bhardwaj said.

Yadav had moved the sessions court against the October 2011 order of the magisterial court asking him to pay the maintenance, saying he was doing well in commercial cinema.

During the proceedings, Yadav told the court that his annual income of Rs 2.25 lakh which was opposed by his wife's counsel who said it was unbelievable that a person of the actor's status would be earning as low as Rs 20,000 per month. The court noted that the magistrate had assessed and presumed Yadav's income to be Rs 1,25,000 per month.

"Further taking cognisance of the fact that petition was filed in 2006 and interim maintenance was allowed in 2011, she (magistrate) assessed the income at a lower rate for the earlier years.

"Trial court could have stopped at assessing the income at Rs 1,25,000 and awarding Rs 40,000 to the respondent no.1 (Yadav's wife)," the court said. It also said that the amount deposited by Yadav as arrears of maintenance by the court's June 2012 order be also released to his wife.

The sessions court had earlier in June 2012 directed Yadav to first pay arrears to his estranged wife, saying his revision petition, challenging the trial court's order, would be heard only after he complies with the magistrate's decision.

The magisterial court had directed Yadav to pay interim maintenance of Rs 40,000 per month to his wife from the date of its present order till the pendency of the case.It had also asked him to pay her Rs 20,000 from the date of filing of the petition in 2006 till this order.

Yadav has been working in the film industry for over two decades and his long list of works includes popular TV serials like "Mungeri Lal Ke Haseen Sapne" and "Kargil" besides Salam Bombay, Page Three, Massey Saheb, 1942-A Love Story, Maya Memsab, Earth 1947 and Lagaan.

The woman, in her plea, had told the court that she had married Yadav in Jabalpur in June 1988 but he deserted her in 1995. She had been living along with their son in Delhi.The court had refused to accept Yadav's contention that his wife, who has worked as a dance teacher for the last few year with the National School of Drama (NSD), was earning Rs 12 lakh yearly and needs no maintenance from him.

The magistrate had expressed surprise that the woman, who had been working as a dance teacher with NSD on contract basis, is reported to be earning Rs 12 lakh per annum while Yadav has put his annual income at a meagre Rs 2.26 lakh.

A Madhya Pradesh court too had earlier ordered Yadav to pay alimony to his wife but he had refused to pay the same, prompting the court to issue a warrant against him leading to his arrest.

The woman later moved the Supreme Court for adjudication of her plea for maintenance by a Delhi court on the ground that she had shifted to the national capital.