S.125 CrPC | Muslim Woman Can Claim Maintenance After Divorce Unless Husband Makes Fair Provision For Her Future: Patna High Court

The Patna High Court has ruled that a Muslim woman can claim maintenance under Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) even after divorce, if her husband has not made a “reasonable and fair provision” for her future during the iddat period.

Justice Jitendra Kumar upheld a Family Court order directing a Muslim man to pay his wife ₹7,000 per month, dismissing his plea that their marriage had ended by mutual consent.

Briefly put, the wife alleged cruelty soon after marriage, forcing her to return to her parents. She claimed she had no income and sought ₹15,000 per month, pointing out that her husband worked abroad and earned around ₹1 lakh monthly.

The husband denied cruelty and argued that the marriage ended in 2013 through mubarat (mutual divorce). He said he had already paid ₹1,00,000 towards alimony, den mohar and iddat expenses, and therefore owed her nothing further.

The Family Court rejected his stand and ordered him to pay maintenance. On revision, the High Court agreed with the Family Court, stressing that such claims of mutual divorce must be properly proved.

“The disputed question of fact regarding marital status of the parties cannot be decided in a proceeding under Section 125 of the CrPC which is summary in nature,” Justice Kumar said, pointing out that no decree from a competent court was produced to show that the marriage had actually been dissolved.

The Court also held that even if divorce was assumed, the wife would still be entitled to maintenance. It observed,

“Even if it is presumed for the sake of argument for a moment that Md. Murshid Alam has divorced his wife, even then, Nazia Shaheen would be entitled to get maintenance from her ex-husband as a divorced wife, because it is not a case of Md. Murshid Alam that his divorced wife has remarried or he has made a reasonable and fair provision for future of his divorced wife during the iddat period.”

Relying on Supreme Court precedents like Shah Bano ((1985) 2 SCC 556) and Danial Latifi ( (2001) 7 SCC 740), the Court and reiterated that Section 125 Cr.PC is secular in nature and it is not in conflict with any particular religion or personal law. There is also no conflict on the question of muslim husband's obligation to provide maintenance to a divorced wife who is unable to maintain herself. The right of a divorced muslim woman to claim maintenance under Section 125 Cr.PC is not affected by personal law.

Justice Kumar observed, “Reasonable and fair provision may include provision for her residence, her food, her clothes and other articles.”

Finding no error in the Family Court's order, the High Court dismissed the revision and confirmed the direction to pay ₹7,000 per month.

Case Title: Md Murshid Alam v. State of Bihar and Ors

Case no.CRIMINAL REVISION No.657 of 2022

For the Petitioner : Advs Mr. Ranjan Kumar Jha, Mr. Rana Pratap Singh, Mr. Vikas Kumar, Advocate

For the State: Mr. Anuj Kumar Srivastava, APP

For the O.P. No.2: Md. Najmul Hodda, Advocate

Click Here To Read/Download Order