The single judge bench of the Tripura High Court held that the wife is well-qualified, has a post-graduate degree, working as a lecturer, and is earning something is not a ground to reject her claim for maintenance and the court directed the husband to pay maintenance to wife, who is serving in the education department.
Brief facts
The factual matrix of the case is that the Respondent/Wife is married to the Petitioner/Husband. It was alleged by the wife that for some time they lived a peaceful conjugal life and after some time, Petitioner started misbehaving with her on petty matters. Also, after one year of marriage, Respondent got pregnant and Petitioner didn’t take any care of her for her medical checkup and medication. Thereafter, it was alleged that Petitioner dragged her from the residence which compelled her to stay at her father’s residence. However, after some time both the families conducted a meeting, where they assured that he would not cause any cruelty upon his wife and then she came back to her matrimonial home again and a few days after only, the Petitioner started causing mental cruelty upon her. The wife filed the application before the Learned Family Judge seeking maintenance. The Learned Family Judge directed the husband to pay Rs.3,000/- to his wife and Rs.5,500/- to his minor son. Aggrieved by this, the present criminal revision is filed by the Petitioner/Respondent.
Contentions of the Petitioner
The Petitioner submitted that the Petitioner has no objection to paying the maintenance to the minor son and concerning his wife, it was submitted that she is well qualified and serving in the Education Department as a guest lecturer and as she is earning money, then, wife is not entitled to get any maintenance.
The Petitioner relied upon the judgments titled Bheekha Ram vs. Goma Devi and Ors, and Niharika Ghosh vs. Shankar Ghosh.
Contentions of the Respondent
The Respondent submitted that the learned Family Judge has rightly awarded the maintenance in the favour of the wife. It was furthermore submitted that the case was filed in the year 2019 and she got her job in the year 2021, however, during that period no maintenance was provided by the husband.
Observations of the court
The Hon’ble Court observed that even though the wife is well-qualified, has a post-graduate degree, and working as a lecturer, and is earning something, she can’t be denied maintenance. The court relied upon the judgment titled Sunita Kachwaha and Others vs. Anil Kachwaha.
It was furthermore observed that the respondent-wife has been able to prove that she has been neglected and refused to provide maintenance by the petitioner-husband. Furthermore, no specific evidence was produced as to how much amount of money is wife earns.
Based on these considerations, the court affirmed the order passed by the Learned Family Judge.
The decision of the court
With the above direction, the court dismissed the Petition.
Case title: Shri Amit Kumar Roy V. Smt. Lipika Banik Roy
Coram: Hon’ble Mr. Justice Biswajit Palit
Case No.: Crl.Rev.P. No.24 of 2023
Advocate for the Petitioner: Mr. Kundan Pandey, Adv
Advocate for the Respondent: Mr. S. Ghosh, Addl. P.P., Mr. D.P. Ghosh, Adv.
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