MANALIKKAL SALAHUDHEEN Vs. UMMUSALMA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In a petition filed by the wife, the Family Court, Tirur, directed the appellants, the husband and the in-laws, to pay Rs.6,78,000.00 towards the value of 30 sovereigns of gold ornaments and further permitted the wife to recover Rs.1,50,000.00 from them. The court also directed the first appellant to pay the respondent Rs.52,000.00 as past maintenance for 13 months @ Rs.4,000.00 per month. The said order is under challenge in this appeal.

(2.) The respondent and the first appellant were married on 8/5/2011. The respondent contended that 30 sovereigns of gold ornaments and Rs.1,50,000.00 were entrusted to the appellants one month after their marriage, but the gold ornaments and the amount were misappropriated by the appellants without her knowledge. She also stated that she was unable to maintain herself and that the first appellant had sufficient means to maintain her, as he, being an auto- rickshaw owner, had an income of Rs.30,000.00 per month. Accordingly, the respondent sought recovery of the market value of the gold ornaments as on the date of petition, the money entrusted, and past maintenance for 13 months.

(3.) The appellants denied the above allegations. According to them, the gold ornaments worn by the respondent at the time of her marriage were only around 15 sovereigns. The assertion that money and gold ornaments were entrusted to the appellants, was stoutly denied by them. On the day of Bakrid in 2013, the respondent went to her home and thereafter did not return despite repeated requests by the first appellant, and thus she is not entitled to claim any maintenance, it is contended.