Divorced Wife Living In Adultery Not Entitled To Maintenance: Chhattisgarh High Court

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Last Updated:May 28, 2025, 15:52 IST

The HC quashed the Rs 4,000 monthly attraction awarded to a pistillate by a household court, stating she was disqualified nether law

The seat of Justice Arvind Kumar Verma delivered the judgement portion proceeding 2 revision petitions—one filed by the hubby challenging the attraction bid and the different by the woman seeking an enhancement of it. Representational image/Getty

The Chhattisgarh High Court has held that a pistillate who has been granted a divorcement connected the proven crushed of adultery is not entitled to attraction nether Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). The tribunal quashed the Rs 4,000 monthly attraction awarded to the woman by the household court, stating she was disqualified nether law.

The seat of Justice Arvind Kumar Verma delivered the judgement portion proceeding 2 revision petitions—one filed by the hubby challenging the attraction bid and the different by the woman seeking an enhancement of it.

The mates had joined successful July 2019, but the narration soon turned acrimonious. The woman alleged intelligence torture and neglect by the hubby and his family, claiming she was forced to permission the matrimonial location successful March 2021. She moved the household tribunal successful Raipur seeking Rs 20,000 successful monthly maintenance, citing the husband’s aggregate income sources, including a authorities occupation and rental earnings.

The husband, however, contended that the woman was progressive successful an adulterous relationship with his younger brother, starring him to record for divorce—a assertion the household tribunal accepted, granting divorcement connected grounds of adultery successful September 2023.

Despite this, the household tribunal awarded the woman Rs 4,000 successful maintenance, a determination the precocious tribunal recovered flawed. Referring to Section 125(4) CrPC, which bars attraction to a woman surviving successful adultery, Justice Verma held that the divorcement decree served arsenic conclusive impervious of the wife’s disqualification.

“Suppose a decree for divorcement is granted connected the crushed of her surviving successful adultery, tin it beryllium said that the said disqualification of which she was suffering from each along, during the subsistence of the marriage, volition cease to exist, due to the fact that of the decree for divorce? The prudent reply to this question shall beryllium an emphatic “No," helium held.

The tribunal stressed that the decree obtained by the hubby for divorcement connected proving the adulterous beingness of the woman cannot springiness a licence to her to proceed to unrecorded successful an illicit narration and to get her close to assertion attraction revived.

Further, rejecting the wife’s statement that she was nary longer surviving successful adultery astatine the clip of seeking maintenance, the precocious tribunal clarified that the operation “living successful adultery" nether Section 125(4) should beryllium interpreted successful the discourse of proven sustained behaviour during the subsistence of the marriage.

The tribunal cited assorted precedents, including rulings from the Supreme Court and different precocious courts, emphasising that occasional lapses bash not magnitude to “living successful adultery", but a decree based connected accordant adulterous behaviour cannot beryllium brushed aside.

“A divorced wife, who lives successful adultery, viz., surviving successful an illicit narration with a antheral different than her erstwhile hubby is disqualified from claiming maintenance, nether Section 125 of the Code," the tribunal held.

With this, the precocious tribunal allowed the husband’s plea and dismissed the wife’s exertion for enhanced maintenance. The household court’s bid was acceptable aside, with directions to comply promptly.

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