SHAKIL AHMAD JALALUDDIN SHAIKH Vs. VAHIDA SHAKIL SHAIKH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The challenge in this petition is to the judgment and order dated 31 August 2007 made by the Additional Sessions Judge, Karad (ASJ) in criminal revision no. 58 of 2006.

(2.) By the impugned judgment and order, the Sessions Judge has reversed the judgment and order dated 29 September 2006 made by the Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) Karad, in misc. criminal application no. 506 of 2005. The JMFC had dismissed the respondent no. 1's application for maintenance under Section 125 of the Cr.P.C. By the impugned judgment and order, the Sessions Judge has allowed the respondent no. 1's application and directed the petitioner to pay maintenance of Rs.1,500/- per month to the respondent no. 1, apart from Rs.5,000/- towards costs of the proceedings. Hence, the present petition.

(3.) Mr. R. S. Khadapkar, the learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted that the Sessions Judge has exceeded the bounds of revisional jurisdiction, in as much as the Sessions Judge has reassessed the findings on record and reversed the finding of fact rendered by the JMFC. In any case, Mr. Khadapkar submitted that the material on record overwhelmingly makes it clear that the petitioner had validly divorced the respondent no. 1 and thereafter in terms of the provisions contained in Muslim Women (Protection of Rights of Divorce) Act, 1986, there was no obligation on the part of the petitioner to give any maintenance to the respondent no. 1 beyond the Iddat period. Mr. Khadapkar further submitted that in the present case there was documentary evidence in the form of talaqnama, acceptance of amounts and articles by the respondent, which establish without doubt the factum of divorce and acceptance thereof by the respondent no. 1. For all these reasons,