Woman divorced on grounds of adultery not entitled to maintenance: Chhattisgarh HC

Bilaspur: The Chhattisgarh High Court has ruled that a woman divorced on grounds of adultery is disqualified from claiming maintenance from her former husband, thereby quashing both her petition and a family court order granting her Rs 4,000 per month.

In its order dated May 9, Justice Arvind Kumar Verma observed that under section 125(4) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), a wife living in adultery is not entitled to maintenance.

The case involved a couple from Raipur who married in 2019 under Hindu customs. The wife left her husband’s house in March 2021, citing mental and physical harassment. She later filed a maintenance suit in the Raipur family court alleging cruelty and suspicion on the part of her husband.

In response, the husband filed for divorce, alleging that his wife was engaged in an adulterous relationship with his younger brother. He also claimed she had threatened to implicate him in a false case when confronted.

The family court granted a decree for divorce on September 8, 2023, citing the wife’s adultery, and later ordered the husband on November 6 to pay her Rs 4,000 in monthly maintenance. The wife subsequently sought an increase to Rs 20,000.

Challenging the maintenance order, the husband's counsel argued that the family court had ignored the statutory bar under section 125(4) CrPC.

The counsel told the HC that his client's wife is not entitled to maintenance as she was found to be in an adulterous relationship with her husband's younger brother, which has been legally proved before the competent court and a decree for divorce was granted in the husband's favour.

The maintenance order was passed without considering the statutory provision of section 125(4) that no wife shall be entitled to receive interim maintenance from her husband.

Specifically, a wife cannot claim maintenance if she is living in adultery, refuses to live with her husband without a sufficient reason, or if they are living separately by mutual consent, he said.

The high court agreed, stating that the divorce decree, based on the wife’s adultery, constituted sufficient proof of her disqualification from receiving maintenance.

"The decree for divorce granted by the family court in favour of the husband is sufficient proof that the wife was living in adultery. Once such a decree is in force, it is not possible for this court to take a different view contrary to the decree granted by the civil court."

"Therefore, this court is of the considered view that the decree granted by the family court clearly goes to prove that the wife is living in adultery and thus, the wife suffers from the disqualification to claim maintenance from the petitioner (husband)," the high court bench stated.

The HC allowed the husband's revision petition and quashed the maintenance order of the family court and the wife's petition seeking an increase in the amount of maintenance.