KAUSHAL KUMAR Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner is the husband against whom order of interim maintenance under Section 24 of the Hindu Marriage Act has been passed in a divorce proceeding instituted in the year 2002 by the wife, who is respondent no. 2 herein, and has appeared and filed counter affidavit.

(2.) It is not disputed as between the parties that they were married in the year 1990 and within a few days they separated. Thereafter for the last 17 years they have not living together. After. 12 years of the marriage, in the year 2002 the respondent -wife filed a divorce petition and made a prayer therein for interim maintenance. It is also not in dispute that while the matter was pending, in 2004 wife instituted a case under Sec. 498A of the Indian Penal Code (after 14 years of separation and 2 years after divorce application was filed) against the husband. It is also not in dispute that the wife is educated and is a post -graduate. It is also not in dispute that she has been living with her parents all along at Patna whereas the petitioner is of remote village from Siwan. Respondent -wife pleaded before the trial court that the petitioner sufficient landed property. No evidence of any sort was brought on record in support of this submission.

(3.) THE husband, on the other hand, submitted that till recently he was unemployed but has managed an employment at Bokaro in the State of Jharkhand and started earning some money. It is on coming to know this that these proceedings were initiated.