Legal Reference Library

Though a woman may be unwilling to live with her husband and desert him, that does not disqualify her from getting maintenance from her husband, Madras High Court ruled today. "If the wife does not remarry and the person has obtained divorce on the ground of desertion and unwillingness to live with him, then the wife is entitled to alimony," Justice S Nagamuthu said.       The court stated this on an appeal by an astrologer who challenged a lower court order directing him to pay  R s.  2,000 per month as alimony to his divorced wife, though he did so on the ground of desertion.       The judge said that as per CrPc, the wife would not be entitled to receive allowance from her husband if she was living in adultery or without any sufficient reason she refused to live with her husband or if they were living seperately by mutual consent.       Besides, a divorcee and one who had obtained divorce from her husband but ha...

In a judgment, a bench comprising of VM Kanade and CB Colabawalla, JJ  has ruled that a widow, even after she has remarried, has the rights over her former husband's properties. In the present case, the petition was filed by a man against his former sister-in-law who had claimed the right over her deceased husband’s properties after she married another man. The brother of the deceased relied  on the provisions of the  Hindu Widows' Re-marriage Act, 1856, which stated the limited right and interest which a widow had in her deceased husband’s property would cease to exist if she remarries without express permission, and the next heirs of her deceased husband, or other persons entitled to the property, shall thereupon succeed to the same. The Court ruled that provisions of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 would prevail over the repealed Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act, 1856. There was no provision in the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 which was pari materia with section 2 of the ...