Recently, the Himachal Pradesh High Court upheld consecutive civil imprisonment for a man who repeatedly failed to pay maintenance to his wife and minor daughters, clarifying that courts are empowered to impose separate jail terms for multiple months of default under Section 125(3) of the CrPC. The Court observed that maintenance is a recurring and continuing obligation, and repeated non-payment cannot be avoided by invoking the one-month imprisonment limit prescribed for individual defaults.
The case arose after a labourer challenged trial court directions sentencing him to a cumulative 70 days of civil imprisonment for failure to clear maintenance arrears. The trial court had imposed separate consecutive sentences of 30 days, 15 days, and 25 days for different periods of default. Before the High Court, the Petitioner argued that Section 125(3) of the CrPC permits imprisonment only up to one month irrespective of the number of defaults and relied on the Supreme Court’s ruling in Shahada Khatoon vs. Amjad Ali. The matter, however, turned on whether maintenance liability for recurring defaults could be enforced through consecutive imprisonment.
Justice Sandeep Sharma examined several Supreme Court decisions, including Kuldip Kaur vs. Surinder Singh and Poongodi vs. Thangavel, and emphasised that Section 125 of the CrPC is a welfare provision enacted to protect neglected wives and children. The Court clarified that imprisonment under Section 125(3) of the CrPC is merely a mode of enforcing payment and does not wipe out the liability itself.
The Court held, “If there are arrears of more than one month, then the imprisonment exceeding the period of one month can be imposed.” The Bench further observed that maintenance is a recurring monthly obligation and claimants are not required to file separate petitions for every individual default.
Finding that the petitioner had failed to honour even earlier undertakings to clear arrears, the Court dismissed the petition and vacated the interim relief granted earlier.
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