Refusing to interfere in a magistrate court's order for a man to pay Rs. 21,000 as interim monthly maintenance to his wife in a domestic violence case, a Mumbai sessions court has said in an appeal filed by the husband that such a grant to a woman who used to earn Rs. 30,000 before marriage is not unreasonable.
The court said that it is to be noted that the wife too was earning before marriage and used to get a salary of Rs. 30,000 which was not spent on anything other than herself. Additional Sessions judge UM Judge Padwad opined in his judgment passed on 20 February that the parties apparently are well educated and used to lead a generous life and this being so, a grant of Rs. 21,000 to a lady who once had Rs 30,000 to spend over herself cannot be said to be unreasonable.
The woman’s husband Ajitpal Singh, 32, had challenged the Dadar magistrate’s order of January last year and stated that he had lost his job as he could not perform due to their matrimonial discord. He had further stated that there is nothing in the order to show she is entitled to the amount. The court said that his claim of having to tender resignation due to marital unrest does not absolve him of the liability to maintain his wife.
The wife Simran Kaur, 28, had claimed monthly interim maintenance of Rs 1 lakh stating that her husband earned Rs 34 lakh annually. The salary slips produced by him before court showed that he earned Rs 90,000 monthly between January and September 2019.
The court also said that prima facie there was domestic violence on the woman and that she had quoted numerous instances of these and simply because they are denied by her husband and his family, it cannot be said that the allegations are without substance.
The couple got married in April 2019. The woman in her domestic violence complaint alleged that Singh and his family harassed her for dowry, made her work as a domestic help, and that her husband would physically assault her.
