Divorced Wife Living in Adultery Not Entitled to Maintenance: Chhattisgarh High Court

The Chhattisgarh High Court has held that a woman who has been granted divorce on the proven ground of adultery is not entitled to maintenance under Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). The court quashed the Rs. 4,000 monthly maintenance awarded to the wife by the family court, stating she was disqualified under law.

The bench of Justice Arvind Kumar Verma delivered the judgment while hearing two revision petitions — one filed by the husband challenging the maintenance order, and the other by the wife seeking an enhancement of the same.

The couple had married in July 2019, but soon the relationship turned acrimonious. The wife alleged mental torture and neglect by the husband and his family, claiming she was forced to leave the matrimonial home in March 2021. She moved the family court in Raipur seeking Rs. 20,000 in monthly maintenance, citing the husband's multiple income sources, including a government job and rental earnings.

The husband, however, contended that the wife was involved in an adulterous relationship with his younger brother, leading him to file for divorce — a claim the family court accepted, granting divorce on grounds of adultery in September 2023.

Despite this, the family court awarded the wife Rs. 4,000 in maintenance, a decision the high court found flawed. Referring to Section 125(4) CrPC, which bars maintenance to a wife living in adultery, Justice Verma held that the divorce decree served as conclusive proof of the wife's disqualification.

"Suppose a decree for divorce is granted on the ground of her living in adultery, can it be said that the said disqualification of which she was suffering from all along, during the subsistence of the marriage, will cease to exist, because of the decree for divorce?. The prudent answer to this question shall be an emphatic - No," he held. 

Court stressed that the decree obtained by the husband for divorce on proving the adulterous life of the wife cannot give a license to her to continue to live in an illicit relationship and to get her right to claim maintenance revived.

Further, rejecting the wife's argument that she was no longer living in adultery at the time of seeking maintenance, the high court clarified that the phrase “living in adultery” under Section 125(4) should be interpreted in the context of proven sustained conduct during the subsistence of the marriage.

Court cited various precedents, including rulings from the Supreme Court and other high courts, emphasizing that occasional lapses do not amount to “living in adultery,” but a decree based on consistent adulterous conduct cannot be brushed aside.

"A divorced wife, who lives in adultery, viz., living in illicit relationship with man other than her former husband is disquali=ed from claiming maintenance, under Section 125 of the Code," court held. 

With this, the high court allowed the husband's plea and dismissed the wife’s application for enhanced maintenance. The family court’s order was set aside, with directions to comply promptly.

Case Title: Xxx vs Yyy (Case number: CRR No. 1322 of 2024)