Sacrosanct duty of husband to provide financial support to wife and minors: SC

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court recently observed that it is the sacrosanct duty of the husband to provide financial support to the wife and to the minor children.

A bench of Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Bela M Trivedi also said the husband is required to earn money even by physical labour, if he is able-bodied, and could not avoid his obligation, except on the legally permissible grounds mentioned in the statute.

Laying emphasis on the legislative intention behind the implementation of section 125 of CrPC which deals with the maintenance of wives, children, and parents the court said the section was conceived to ameliorate the agony, anguish, and financial suffering of a woman who is required to leave the matrimonial home, so that some suitable arrangements could be made to enable her to sustain herself and the children.

“Section 125 Cr.P.C. is a measure of social justice and is specially enacted to protect women and children. It also falls within the Constitutional sweep of Article 15(3), reinforced by Article 39 of the Constitution of India,” the court also said.

Court’s order came in a plea filed by a wife and the couple’s son against Punjab and Haryana HC’s ruling of upholding the order passed by the Family court. The family court had dismissed the maintenance application filed by the wife and daughter but had directed the husband to give Rs 6,000 as maintenance to his son till he turned 18. Petition challenging the family court’s order was filed on the ground that the lower court had refused to pass the maintenance order without considering the husband's conduct.