GUWAHATI: The Supreme Court recently held that a woman is entitled to claim maintenance from her second husband under Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code (Cr.P.C.), even if her first marriage was not legally dissolved.
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According to a LiveLaw report, the court clarified that the absence of a formal divorce decree does not bar a woman from seeking maintenance, especially when the second husband was aware of her first marriage.
A bench comprising Justices BV Nagarathna and Satish Chandra Sharma delivered the verdict, setting aside a Telangana High Court order that had denied maintenance to the woman on the grounds that her marriage to the second husband was void due to the subsistence of her first marriage.
“It must be borne in mind that the right to maintenance under Section 125 CrPC is not a benefit received by a wife but rather a legal and moral duty owed by the husband,” the court observed. It further stated that Section 125 CrPC should be interpreted broadly, considering its social welfare purpose.
The case involved a woman who married her second husband without obtaining a legal divorce from her first husband. The second husband was fully aware of her first marriage, and the couple even remarried after their initial wedding. They later separated due to matrimonial disputes, leading the woman to seek maintenance.
The second husband opposed her plea, arguing that she could not be considered his legal wife.
However, the Supreme Court rejected this argument, noting that the husband had knowingly entered into the marriage. The court also considered a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the woman and her first husband, confirming their mutual separation, even though it was not a formal divorce decree.
