The Allahabad High Court has dismissed the criminal revision challenging Family Court’s decision of rejecting interim maintenance application under Section 125 CrPC holding that the husband had been rendered incapable of earning due to a firearm injury allegedly caused by the wife’s family members.
Justice Lakshmi Kant Shukla upheld the order passed by the Family Court, Kushinagar, which had refused interim maintenance to wife. The case arose from Family Court’s order which concluded that the husband, a homeopathy doctor, lost his earning capacity after suffering a grievous gunshot injury during an attack by wife’s family members at his clinic in April 2019. Challenging this before the High Court, the revisionist wife submits that the family court order is illegal and arbitrary and failed to appreciate that the husband, being a doctor, possesses sufficient means.
According to the record, the pellet from the firearm remains lodged in the husband’s spinal cord, and medical advice indicated that its removal could result in paralysis. The High court noted that due to this injury, the husband was unable to sit for prolonged periods and had become incapable of earning his livelihood. The Court also noted that such injury to the husband was caused by
While reiterating that maintenance laws are a measure of social justice intended to protect women, the High Court observed that maintenance under Section 125 CrPC is contingent upon the husband having sufficient means or the capacity to earn. The court held that where a wife or her family’s conduct contributes to destroying the husband’s earning capacity, the wife cannot take advantage of such circumstances to claim maintenance.
The court further noted that the petitioner failed to rebut the factual findings regarding the husband’s incapacity and relied solely on the argument that he was a doctor by profession. Finding no illegality or material irregularity in the Family Court’s order, the High Court dismissed the revision as meritless.
Appearance:
Dinesh Kumar Singh and Gaurav Suryavanshi for Revisionist
