SARASWATI DEVI Vs. SUNDER SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE facts giving rise to the present petition are that Smt. Saraswati Devi, who happens to be the step -mother of respondent Shri Sunder Singh, preferred a petition before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kullu, under Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and prayed that the present respondent be directed to pay the monthly allowance of Rs. 500/ - in favour of the petitioner, as she had no source of income. It was also pleaded by the step -mother before the trial Magistrate that she was issueless and her husband died in the year 1985 and thereafter, she inherited the property of her husband, for which she had filed a suit against the present respondent, which was compromised and the Court decreed the suit on 3rd of January, 1986, awarding maintenance of Rs. 150/ - per month to the petitioner. As the amount awarded in that suit was not sufficient to maintain herself, therefore, petition under Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure was preferred.

(2.) THIS petition was contested by the respondent on two grounds, firstly, the step -mother has got no legal right to claim the maintenance, under Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, from the step -son, and secondly, she had already been granted maintenance through the decree of civil Court, and the present petition, as such, as was maintainable.

(3.) THE trial Magistrate disallowed the prayer of the present petitioner, holding that step -mother has got no right to claim maintenance from the step - son under Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. It was also held by the trial Magistrate that in view of the civil Court decree, the present petition was not maintainable.