INDORE: Madhya Pradesh high court has observed that a wife can be debarred from maintenance on the basis of adultery only if she is "living in adultery at or around the time of filing application".
Justice Prakash Chandra Gupta of HC's Indore bench made the observation while dismissing a revision petition filed by a man against a family court order that awarded Rs 10,000 maintenance to his wife.
The court order mentions that the couple married in March 2015 and a Coimbatore court granted them ex parte divorce in Dec 2016.
In his order dated March 12, Justice Gupta said, "According to Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), the term 'wife' includes a woman, who has been divorced by her husband and has not remarried. From analysis of the provision and case laws, it is apparent that adultery under Section 125(4) of CrPC has to be continuous and the liability to prove it is upon the husband in order to debar the wife from getting maintenance."
"The wife can be debarred from getting maintenance on grounds of adultery only when she is actually living in adultery at or around the time of application," he said.
The husband had filed a revision petition, alleging that the wife was indulging in adultery by "speaking with another man over the phone at night". The husband had claimed that she was living with a man in Bhopal and produced some photographs, but without certification under Indian Evidence Act 1872.
The MP high court concluded that the husband was unable to prove adultery by the wife, and upheld the family court order.