The single judge bench of the Jharkhand High Court held that subsistence of a valid marriage is a prerequisite for passing any order under Section 125 of the Cr.P.C. The court set aside the order passed under Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure while holding that unless the petitioner is validly divorced from his first wife, the marriage of the petitioner will have no legal sanctity.
Brief facts
The factual matrix of the case is that the order of maintenance was passed under Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure by which the petitioner has been directed to pay maintenance of Rs.4000/- per month to the opposite party no.2. Aggrieved by this, the present criminal revision petition has been filed against the order of maintenance.
Contentions of the Petitioner
The Petitioner submitted that opposite party no. 2 is not his legally wedded wife. It was furthermore submitted that even in the maintenance application, date, time and place of the said marriage had not been disclosed. Also, during the subsistence of the first marriage, any second marriage was not legal, and therefore, Opposite Party No.2 cannot be recognized as legally wedded wife of the Petitioner.
Observations of the court
The Hon’ble Court observed that to pass any order under Section 125 of the Cr.P.C., the subsistence of a valid marriage is a prerequisite.
The court noted that until and unless the Petitioner is validly divorced from his first wife, a marriage of the Petitioner will have no legal sanctity.
Based on these considerations, the court set aside the impugned order.
The decision of the court
With the above direction, the court allowed the Revision Petition.
Case Title: Rengha Oraon @ Regha Oraon V. State of Jharkhand
Coram: Hon’ble Mr. Justice Gautam Kumar Choudhary
Case No.: Cr. Revision No. 1489 of 2022
Advocate for the Petitioner: Mr. Arun Kumar, Advocate
Advocate for the State: Ms. Shweta Singh, A.P.P.
Read Judgment @Latestlaws.com
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