In a controversial verdict, the Supreme Court has said that divorced Muslim women are entitled to seek maintenance from their ex-husbands under the Criminal Procedure Code which provides the same relief to wives, children and parents.
A bench of justices Dipak Misra and Prafulla C Pant yesterday referred several judgement of the apex court where law has been settled that a magistrate can grant maintenance to a divorced Muslim woman and parameters and considerations are the same as stipulated in Section 125 of the CrPC.
The Section deals with order for maintenance for wives, kids and parents if any person having sufficient means neglects or refuses to maintain them. Dealing with the issue of applicability of Section 125 CrPC to a Muslim woman who has been divorced, the bench upheld a trial court’s order which had directed a man, retired Nayak from Army, to pay Rs 4,000 per month maintenance to his divorced wife.
The Apex court said that there can be no shadow of doubt that Section 125 CrPC has been rightly held to be applicable by the family judge. The bench said it was shocking to note that the application for grant of maintenance was filed by the woman in 1998, which had remained undecided by the family court till February, 2012.
The clarification would help divorced Muslim women whose right to maintenance was curtailed by a law passed in Parliament by Rajiv Gandhi government in wake of top courts order’s Shah Bano rulings.
Reacting to the Supreme court’s judgement, noted cleric Maulana Kalbe Sadiq said it is a decision which will be opposed. He said that the matter will be discussed in the meeting of All India Personal Law Board in near future. He categorically said that Sharia only allows alimony to divorced women until the period of Iddat or roughly four months and ten days.