Justice DN Patel of Jharkhand High Court has said that Muslim women are entitled for maintenance from their ex-husbands under Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).
“It is a secular provision and applies equally to Hindu, Muslim, Christian and other women in the country,” Justice Patel, who happens to be a member of the committee for sensitization of Family Court matters constituted by the Supreme Court, told The Pioneer.
The issue of granting maintenance to women will be one of the issues to be debated at a zonal conference, organised by the Apex Court, scheduled to be held in lucknow tomorrow where the Principal District Judges, presiding over the family courts in the states of UP, MP, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand will be participating.
A whopping 3,42,774 cases are pending in the four states of UP, MP, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. UP tops the list with 2,74,717, followed by MP 41,880, Jharkhand 14865 and Chhattisgarh 11, 312.
The committee, headed by Justice Dipak Misra of the Supreme Court, has Justice Navin Sinha, Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court as another member.
Maintaining that the judges should be sensitive and kind hearted in dealing with the family disputes, Justice Patel said that they need to decide the maintenance applications filed under Section 125 of CrPC quickly for the dignified survival of women. “These applications should not take years to decide. If a judge is not able to decide the permanent maintenance quickly, he should grant interim maintenance soon after an application is filed,” he pointed out.
“The guiding principle behind awarding maintenance is the same for women from any religion,” he maintained. The object of maintenance is to prevent immorality and destitution and ameliorate the economic condition of women and children.
He pointed out that the Supreme Court has already decided the issue on the entitlement of divorced Muslim women to seek maintenance from their ex-husbands under the Criminal Procedure Code.
Notably, the Supreme Court’s order in Shah Bano case on maintenance that although the Muslim Personal law limits the husband’s liability to provide for maintenance of the divorced wife to the period of iddat (period of waiting during which a woman must observe after a divorce, generally three months), it does not contemplate or countenance the situation envisaged by Section 125 of the Cr PC, 1973, had created lot of controversies.
Then then Rajiv Gandhi Government had overturned the SC order and later enacted another law- Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986. This law too came under challenge, but the Supreme Court concluded that if the divorced wife is able to maintain herself, the husband’s liability ceases with the expiration of the period of iddat but if she is unable to maintain herself after the period of iddat, she is entitled to have recourse to Section 125 of the CrPC.
During the day-long brainstorming session, the judges from the four states will also discuss the issues of divorce and restitution of conjugal rights, custody of a child and shared parenting. Also, the issues of ‘streedhan’ and division of properties, adoption besides, other incidental matters will come up for discussion.
Justice Patel said that the special drive launched by the Jharkhand High Court in the State to settle the long pending family cases from October 3 to October 16 last through mediation has been quite successful. “Altogether 237 cases were settled, including reunion of 95 families,” he added.