The Supreme Court on Wednesday held that a divorced Muslim Woman can file a petition for maintenance under Section 125 CrPC against her husband. A division bench of Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice Augustine George Masih pronounced separate but concurrent verdicts in the case. The top court held that the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act 1986 will not prevail over the secular law.
The top court today pronounced the verdict while dismissing a petition filed by a Muslim man against the direction by the court to pay interim maintenance to his divorced wife under Section 125 CrPC.
"We are dismissing the criminal appeal with the conclusion that Section 125 CrPC would be applicable to all women and not just married women," Justice Nagarathna said while delivering the verdict.
The top court said that the remedy under Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act is in addition to the remedy under Section 125 CrPC.
The bench also clarified that if during the pendency of a petition under Section 125 of the CrPC a Muslim woman is divorced, then she can take recourse to the remedy under the Act.
The case emanated from a Family Court order which, in a Section 125 CrPC petition moved by a Muslim woman, directed her ex-husband to pay interim maintenance of Rs.20,000 per month to her.
The man challenged the order before Telangana High Court contending that the parties got divorced as per Muslim personal laws in 2017 and there was a divorce certificate to that effect, but the same was not considered by the Family Court.
The High Court did not set aside the direction for interim maintenance but reduced the quantum from Rs.20,000 to Rs.10,000 per month.
The man then moved the Supreme Court pleading that a divorced Muslim woman is not entitled to maintain a petition under Section 125 of CrPC and has to proceed under the provisions of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act of 1986. He claimed that he had paid Rs.15,000 to his divorced wife as maintenance during the iddat period and argued that the 1986 Act is more beneficial to Muslim women insofar as the question of maintenance is concerned.
It may be recalled that the history of the issue can be traced back to the 1985 landmark ruling in Shah Bano Begum case, where the Supreme Court had ruled that Section 125 CrPC was a secular provision applicable to Muslim women as well.
Following this, the Muslim Women Act, 1986, was enacted which restricted Muslim women's right to maintenance to 90 days after divorce (iddat period). However, the top court rejected the view in several verdicts that followed.