STATE OF M.P. Vs. SOMTI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is a reference under section 438, Criminal Procedure Code for setting aside the order of the Magistrate 1st Class Chhindwara, cancelling the order of maintenance which had earlier been passed under section 488, Criminal Procedure Code.

(2.) IN Miscellaneous Criminal Case No. 21 of 1962, the Magistrate 1st Class Chhindwara, passed an order on 9 April 1964, under section 488, Criminal Procedure Code, awarding Smt. Somti Rs. 10/ - per month from the date of the application and Rs. 20/ - per month from the date of the order, as maintenance. It appears that later on, Shankar (the husband) made an application for cancellation of that order on the ground that Smt. Somti was leading an adulterous life. But that application was dismissed, as the allegation could not be proved.

(3.) SHANKAR examined himself and also produced Chetram (P. W.2), Kamlibai (P. W. 3) and Ayodhya (P. W. 4). Shankar says that she lived with him for one year only and after that she was living with her father for about six or seven years. He says that he did not like the ways of his wife. Even during that one year, when she lived with him, people used to visit her in his absence. After she went away to her father's house, she never returned. He denied that he ever went to her father's house or had sexual intercourse with her. He denied that the child who was born, in the mean -time was his.