Court says wife not entitled to maintenance in case of unreasonable departure from husband's house

RANCHI: In most cases, women get alimony from their husbands after divorce. However, the Jharkhand High Court has issued an important judgment in this regard.

The court pointed out that if the wife leaves her matrimonial home without valid reasons, she is not entitled to ask for maintenance. The verdict was given by a bench headed by Justice Subhash Chand.

The High Court set aside the decision of the Ranchi family court that Amit Kumar Kachhap had to pay a certain monthly maintenance amount to his wife Sangeeta Toppo.

The verdict of the court is after examining the evidence presented by both the parties. The High Court found that Sangeeta was living separately from Amit without any reason.

The court heard from the evidence that within a few days of the marriage, Sangeeta left the husband's house and did not return. She had filed a case against her husband Amit Kumar Kachhap in the Ranchi family court alleging dowry harassment.

“From the very prescription of Dr. Indu Chouhan, which has been filed on behalf of the petitioner-husband, it is found that it is dated 21.02.2015, in which, Sangeeta Kachhap, wife of Amit Kumar Kachhap, 27 years old resident of Baradih is shown patient and she is also shown pregnant of two and half months. The doctor has also prescribed her certain tablets on account of her general bodyache. This prescription issued by Dr. Indu Chouhan, in which, the pregnancy is also shown ‘positive’ belies the statement of applicant Sangeeta Toppo, who has flatly refused that she never became pregnant. She never underwent treatment of Dr. Indu Chouhan and pregnancy was never terminated," the court noted.

Amit approached the High Court questioning the verdict passed by the family court in favour of Sangeeta. Amit informed the court that his wife stayed with him only for a week after marriage and did not come back despite much insistence.