NEW DELHI, JULY 10: The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that a divorced Muslim woman can seek maintenance from her ex-husband under Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and said the “secular and religion neutral” provision is applicable to all married women irrespective of their religion.
A bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Augustine George Masih pronounced separate but concurring judgments upholding Muslim woman’s right after a Muslim man challenged a Telangana High Court direction to pay ₹10,000 interim maintenance to his former wife, reported the Bar and Bench.
“We are hereby dismissing the criminal appeal with the major conclusion that Section 125 CrPC would be applicable to all woman and not just married woman,” Justice Nagarathna said pronouncing the verdict.
The Court also held that if during the pendency of application under Section 125 CrPC, the concerned Muslim woman gets divorced, then she can take recourse to Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019.
The 2019 Act provides remedy in addition to the remedy under Section 125 CrPC, the Court added.
The Supreme Court had in a landmark judgment in the Shah Bano case held that Section 125 CrPC is a secular provision applicable to Muslim women too.
The same was however nullified by the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986 and the validity of the law was upheld in 2001.
The matter arose from a Family Court order that had directed the petitioner to pay interim maintenance of ₹20,000 per month.
This was was challenged before the High Court on the grounds that the couple had gotten divorced as per Muslim personal law in 2017.
The High Court modified the maintenance to ₹10,000 per month and directed the family court to dispose of the case within six months.