Pay Money Or Go To Jail! SC Says Husband Can't Abdicate Responsibility To Pay Maintenance To Estranged Wife

The Supreme Court bench ruled that a husband cannot abdicate "his responsibility to provide maintenance to his wife and it is his duty to provide the maintenance".

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New Delhi: The Supreme Court ruled that a husband cannot forego the responsibility of paying maintenance to his estranged wife in a case where it gave the last opportunity to a man to clear the entire outstanding amount of Rs 2.60 crore along with a monthly payout of Rs 1.75 lakh to his wife, failing to do this would lead to imprisonment.

The Tamil Nadu resident, claiming to work on a project of national security in the telecom sector, said that he had no money and asked to be given two years to pay the money.

The top court pointed out repeated failures to follow the previous order and said that he has lost credibility in the case.

A bench of Chief Justice Bobde and Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian told the man that a husband cannot abdicate "his responsibility to provide maintenance to his wife and it is his duty to provide the maintenance".

The matter has been listed to be heard after four weeks to check whether its order is complied.

The husband, in this case, was directed by the trial court with the decision upheld by the top court and the high court to pay money to his wife under two heads. These include monthly maintenance of Rs 1.75 lakh and the second is the past arrears of maintenance from the year 2009 which are close to Rs 2.60 crore, in this Rs 50,000 has been paid.

Senior advocate Basava Prabhu Patil representing the woman said that despite the top court's order, he has not been paying the maintenance amount and was living lavishly.

The lawyer alleged that he has enough money and is trying to siphon off his funds invested in his five companies to a Germany-based company.

The husband appeared before the Supreme Court bench through video conferencing and claimed that he has put all his money in research and development in a project related to national security in the telecom sector. He says he is working on a project that would protect hacking of telecom networks from China.

The top court expressed doubt stating that with this kind of case against him, how is he involved in a project of national security. The annoyed bench further asked the husband to borrow money or to take a loan from a bank if need be but pay the maintenance and arrear amount to his wife within one week or he will be sent to jail straightaway.

At the request of his counsel, he has been given four weeks to pay the outstanding amount.

Original Case

The case was filed under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act before the metropolitan magistrate court in Chennai in 2009. The court directed the husband, to pay Rs 2 crore as maintenance; Rs 50 lakh compensation for deserting the wife for 12 years; Rs 50 lakh for living in extramarital life; Rs 50 lakh for leaving his wife to face the court cases; Rs 50 lakh to force to take a job in a media company; Rs 50 lakh for mental torture and agony by openly living with foreign women and Rs 50 lakh for not paying rent to the shared household.

After hearing the appeal against the order, the Sessions Court directed him to pay Rs 1 lakh per month towards maintenance from the date of filing the petition which is January 6, 2009 and Rs 75,000 per month for residential accommodation from the said date.

The high court upheld the order of Sessions Court on December 2, 2016, after which the husband approached the top court. His plea was dismissed by the top court on October 26, 2017, directing him to pay the maintenance and arrears within six months. A review petition was also filed in 2018 by the wife and the husband was asked to clear the arrears of maintenance Rs 1.75 lakh by the 10th day of every month.

(With Agency Inputs)