LAWS(BOM)-1977-8-52

SHARADCHANDRA CHANDRASHEKHAR SATBHAI Vs. INDUBAI SHARAD SATBHAI

Decided On August 25, 1977
Sharadchandra Chandrashekhar Satbhai Appellant
V/S
Indubai Sharad Satbhai Respondents

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner is the husband of respondent No. 1 -Indubai. Indubai filed an application under Section 125, Criminal Procedure Code 1973, for maintenance for herself and two minor children. Each of the minors was awarded allowance of Rs. 30 per month. But as regards Indubai's own maintenance, the application was rejected. Being aggrieved of the said order, Indubai went in revision. The Revisional Court by its order dated September 30, 1976 granted maintenance to ndubai at the rate of Rs. 60 per month from October 1, 1976. The husband seeks to quash this order under Article 227 of the Constitution.

(2.) THE few facts are that the petitioner and Indubai were married in January 1963. At the time of marriage, the petitioner was serving in the Police Department of Madhya Pradesh. The matrimonial home of the parties was at Indore upto April 1969. From the wedlock, a daughter Bhatabai alias Damayanti and a son Raju were born. On or about April 14, 1969, Indubai left Indore with the two minor children without informing the petitioner. The petitioner made several attempts by letters and personal visits to Dhule to bring back Indubai, but she refused to go back to the petitioner and thus continued to stay away from the matrimonial home. In these circumstances, the petitioner filed Civil Suit No. 10 of 1971 in the Court of the District Judge at Indore for a decree for judicial separation on the ground that Indubai had deserted the petitioner for a continuous period of more than two years. That petition was decided ex parte as Indubai did not choose to enter appearance. On the evidence, the learned District Judge, Indore, held that Indubai had wilfully deserted the petitioner for a continuous period of over two years before the presentation of the petition for judicial separation and accordingly a decree for judicial separation was passed on August 4, 1973. In 1974, Indubai filed the present application. Her claim for maintenance was rejected by the learned Judicial Magistrate, First Class, Dhule, as, in his view, he could not sit in judgment over the order of learned District Judge of Indore holding that Indubai had deserted the petitioner, and, therefore, she was not entitled to receive monthly allowance in summary proceedings under Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973.

(3.) MR . Khare, learned Counsel for the petitioner, challenges the validity of the said order on the ground that Indubai had refused to live with the petitioner without any sufficient reason and the matter was concluded between the parties in view of the decree for judicial separation.