Pune Court Rejects Interim Maintenance To Techie Wife As “She Earns Enough”

The Pune civil court has refused to grant maintenance to a 29-year-old woman on the ground that she works in a multinational company and is equipped to maintain her expenses.

The senior division civil judge, Madhuri Khanwe, observed that the woman had an independent source of income and was not entitled for an interim maintenance from her husband.

Case:

The couple got married in January 2017 at Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh. The woman was then working for a multinational company in Pune, while her husband was posted in Delhi. According to the woman, it was mutually agreed that she would continue working in Pune till she found a job in Delhi.

Allegations by Wife

According to wife’s petition, from the second day of the marriage, the in-laws began ill-treating the woman for dowry. She also stated in the petition that her father-in-law had told her mother to take her back home. She was also allegedly forced to keep a fast, which greatly impacted her mental and physical health. She was also allegedly abused in front of other family members.

The petition also mentioned that the woman was being harassed mentally by not only her in-laws, but also her husband. She alleged that he would abuse her for dowry and send provocative messages. In March 2017, her husband came to her house with a knife and physically abused her. The woman then approached the women’s cell in Chhindwara and filed a complaint against him.

The 29-year-old techie also kept filing cases against her husband. She also filed a complaint under Section 498-A (husband or relative of a woman subjecting her to cruelty) at the Hinjawadi police station in July 2018.

Defense by Husband

The husband in his reply to the petition, refuted all allegations. He submitted screenshots of their conservations and claimed that four days after marriage, she shifted to Pune. He had immediately filed a complaint with the Chhindwara police that she had threatened him and his parents.

Thereafter, he also filed an application in the Chhindwara court under section 9 of the Hindu Marriage Act that deals with restitution of conjugal rights, but she did not appear before the court, which then passed an ex-parte order and directed her to return to her husband’s house.

Demand for Maintenance & Alimony by Wife

The woman, who is herself working as software engineer, has filed for a divorce petition in the civil court’s senior division. In the plea, she had also sought alimony.

She had filed an application claiming a sustenance (maintenance) of Rs 25,000 a month from her husband who serves in the Central Reserve Force (CRF). 

The woman, in her petition, has also demanded Rs 25 lakh towards perpetual maintenance (alimony). She claimed she was the only earning member in the family.

Advocate Vipin Bidkar who represented the man told Pune Mirror,

The laws made for women have been completely misused in the case. My client was harassed and tortured by the woman. She filed multiple complaints against him. After living with her husband for four days, she went to Pune.

When she filed a complaint with the women’s cell in Chhindwara, it was decided mutually that she will stay with her husband wherever he gets posted, and find a job at that place. However, she kept filing false cases against him and his family to harass them.

Now imagine if wives are empowered with yet another #MaritalRape law, what is the extent of misuse going to be. Even in the case above, court has only denied maintenance to the woman. There is no punishment whatsoever for filing false and frivolous criminal cases against husband and his family. 

Please help us to spread the campaign against such draconian laws using hashtag #MaritalRape on social media.

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