KRISHNA KUMAR MISRA Vs. SMT. PARTIBHA MISRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS revision is directed against an order of the learned Magistrate 1st Class, Dehradun, directing the applicant to pay Rs. 70 per month as maintenance allowance to the Respondent. This order, which has been upheld in revision by the learned Sessions Judge, was passed by the Magistrate in a proceeding under Section 488, Code of Criminal Procedure initiated by the Respondent on the allegation that she was the legally wedded wife of the applicant and that he was neglecting to maintain her and therefore she was living since the last several years with her parents. It appears that during the pendency of this proceeding before the Magistrate the Respondent had filed a suit against the applicant for judicial separation under Section 10 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 before a civil court. That suit was dismissed by the learned Addl. Civil Judge, Dehradun, on 8 -10 -63 inter alia, on the finding that "it has been proved beyond any doubt that the Respondent did not desert the Petitioner and it is the Petitioner who had withdrawn herself from the society of the Respondent without any reasonable cause and without the consent of the Respondent. It has also been proved that the Respondent has not willfully neglected or failed to maintain the Petitioner and as such the Petitioner has failed to prove desertion." A certified copy of the judgment of the learned Civil Judge has been filed in this Court by the applicant.

(2.) IN view of this decision by a competent civil court, the impugned order of the Magistrate allowing the maintenance allowance to the applicant cannot be sustained (vide : AIR 1940 Cal. 87 and : AIR 1932 All. 583).

(3.) IN the result, this revision is allowed and the impugned order of the Magistrate dated 30 -4 -1963 is quashed.