SAMRITI SHARMA Vs. CHANDER KUMAR SHARMA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS petition under section 482, Code of Criminal Procedure, is at the instance of a wife who has been denied maintenance in proceedings under section 125, Code of Criminal Procedure.

(2.) TO dispose of this petition, the cause of estrangement between the spouses need not be noticed. Minimal facts enabling in that regard only would require attention.

(3.) IT may mentioned that the petitioner by now is a divorced wife. On 12th February,1982, the husband's petition for divorce was dismissed by the Additional District Judge, Chandigarh. However, in F.A.O. No. 6/-11 of 1982, that order was upset by this Court at the instance of the husband and divorce granted. But that would not make any difference. In Chapter IX of the Code of Criminal Procedure the word wife includes a woman who has been divorced by, or has obtained a divorce from, her husband and has not remarried. Since the petitioner has not so far remarried, she would ordinarily be entitled to maintain a petition under section 125, Code of Criminal Procedure. But here it has to be seen whether the judgment in Civil Revision 3105 of 1981 scuttles that claim.