On Wednesday, the Supreme Court ruled that a divorced Muslim woman has the right to file a claim for maintenance under Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) against her former husband.
The bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Justice Augustine George Masih upheld the Muslim woman's right after a Muslim man challenged a Telangana High Court direction to pay ₹10,000 interim maintenance to his former wife.
The Court dismissed the criminal appeal and concluded that Section 125 CrPC would be applicable to all women, not just married women, as stated by Justice Nagarathna in the verdict.
The Court also clarified that if a Muslim woman gets divorced during the pendency of an application under Section 125 CrPC, she can seek recourse to the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019.
This Act provides an additional remedy to the remedy under Section 125 CrPC, as highlighted by the Court.
The Supreme Court's judgment in the Shah Bano case had previously established that Section 125 CrPC is a secular provision applicable to Muslim women, but this was later nullified by the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986, with the law's validity being upheld in 2001.
The petition before the Supreme Court raised concerns over the filing of a claims plea under Section 125 of the CrPC by a Muslim woman who was the wife of the petitioner before their divorce.
The matter stemmed from a Family Court order that directed the petitioner to pay interim maintenance of ₹20,000 per month, which was later modified by the High Court to ₹10,000 per month.
The counsel for the man argued that the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act should be considered in view of the divorce.
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