ANITA AND ORS. Vs. TARACHAND @ JALAM SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners are aggrieved by the order dated 24.3.2008 passed by the Family Court, Jodhpur, whereby the learned Judge has directed that since the petitioner No. 2 has reached the age of majority, therefore, she is disentitled from being paid any maintenance by the respondent father.

(2.) The brief facts of the case are that petitioner No. 1 married the respondent according to Hindu rites and customs. However, subsequently differences arose between them and they parted their ways. During the wedlock, two children, namely, petitioner No. 2 Kumari Swati and petitioner No. 3 Mohit were born. It is the case of the petitioner No. 1 that she left the matrimonial home along with her children. Subsequently, she found it extremely difficult to maintain herself as well as the two children. Therefore, in 1999, she filed an application under Section 125 Cr.P.C. against the respondent husband for maintenance. Vide order dated 5.7.2000, the learned Court directed that Rs. 500/- should be paid to petitioner No. 1, the wife, and Rs. 500/- should be paid to each child, the petitioner Nos. 2 and 3. Subsequently, in the year 2003, the petitioners moved an application for enhancement of the maintenance amount wherein they claimed that the maintenance amount should be increased upto Rs. 3,000/- per person. However, vide order dated 23.4.2008, the learned Judge directed that since petitioner No. 2 has reached the age of majority, she is disentitled from claiming maintenance. However, the petitioner No. 1 shall be entitled to maintenance of Rs. 1,500 and petitioner No. 3 would be entitled to maintenance of Rs. 1,000/- per month. Hence, this petition before this Court.

(3.) The learned counsel for the petitioner has relied on the case of Jagdish Jugtawat v. Manju Lata & Ors., (2002) 5 SCC 422 in order to buttress his contention that although Section 125 Cr.P.C. denies a daughter the right to maintenance from the date she becomes major, but a combined reading of Section 125 Cr.P.C. along with Section 20(3) of the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act would entitle a daughter to be maintained till the date of her marriage. Therefore, according to the counsel although petitioner No. 2 may have become major, she is also entitled to maintenance from the respondent father.