Wife cannot be barred from maintenance after divorce

In Allahabad, a city north of the Indian state Uttar Pradesh, a court ruled that a woman, who had originally agreed that she would not claim maintenance from her former husband, was granted entitlement to claim maintenance from him.

Justice M K Mithal passed the judgment, he set aside the order of family court at Kanpur of January 18, 2005 in which the application of Manorama, asking for maintenance from her former husband. This was rejected on the grounds that they had reached a compromise in the civil suit by which the wife had accepted a lump sum amount and agreed not to claim any maintenance in future.

The husband’s plea for his ex wife to be barred from claiming maintenance was turned down by the court.

Under section 125 of the criminal procedure code is a matter of public policy and not an individual, so in other words the right to claim maintenance cannot be waived by mutual agreement.

So any contract which is opposed to public policy is void. So even if an agreement was made the wife cannot be disqualified from claiming maintenance, up until she remarries and can support herself.

Source: expressindia

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