Father has duty to maintain his unmarried daughters, provide for their marriage even if they are major and working: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court bench of Justices Jasmit Singh and Vipin Sanghi has held that a father has a duty to maintain his daughters and take care of their education and marriage even if they have attained majority and are employed and earning income.

The Court was hearing an appeal against a family court decision where, the Court while granting divorce to the appellant wife refused maintenance allowance to the wife and her two major daughters. The Family Court had refused maintenance to the wife because she is earning generously. Maintenance to the daughters was refused on the ground that they are major and earning.

The appellant has argued that she has taken care of her children for over a decade. Under Hindu law, the father is duty bound to take care of the children, ensure financial assistance in the marriage of his daughters.

Per Contra, the counsel for the husband argued that the wife earns a handsome sum and the daughters are earning, hence maintenance is not necessary.

The Court while accepting the family Court's decision in not granting maintenance to the wife, rejected the decision to not grant maintenance to the daughters. The Court observed that:

"The daughters may be of majority age today. However, the Respondent is still their father. He cannot simply resile from that relationship, and the accompanying legal and moral obligation, and state that he will not take care of them. The father’s duty to maintain his unmarried daughters, including his duty to provide for their marriage is clearly recognized by the law."

The Court cited Section 20(3) of the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act which provides for the maintenance of children and aged parents and observed:

"An unmarried daughter, even if employed and earning, cannot be assumed to have sufficient resources to meet her matrimonial expenses. In the Indian context, the marriage of a son or a daughter would be expected to be performed, in keeping with the financial and social status of the parents. It is customary for the parents of the son/daughter– who is getting married, to deploy their resources for the wedding, to the best of their financial capacity. This is particularly true when marrying of a daughter, as the parents try to ensure that she is well provided for in the matrimonial home when she would begin her new life. In the Indian society, the marriage of a daughter is considered of paramount importance from the birth of the child. Parents from the very beginning start saving jewelry and money for the marriage of their daughters."

However, the Court observed that neither the husband or the wife is being honest about their annual income. The husband claims to have no money, yet drives a mercedes and goes on foreign trips, the Court noted. The judges, therefore, said that a certain amount of guesswork is required for determining the financial status of the father here. It then directed him to pay an amount of ₹35 lakh towards the marriage expenses of the elder daughter who is living in the UK and employed. In the case of the younger daughter who is unemployed, the Court directed the father to pay ₹50 lakh since she is not earning any income and her marriage is already scheduled.

The Court in its concluding remark observed that:

“The bond between a parent and his child, particularly between a father and his daughter, is one of the strongest bonds that any two human beings can have. Even when this bond is weakened due to unfortunate past incidents, in our view, there is nothing to prevent the said bond being restored because, deep inside, both the daughter and the father are bound to have that natural and inherent love for each other. It only requires the layers of anger, hurt and ego to be brushed aside to expose the pure love & affection which a father and his daughter share… We, therefore, expect that as and when the daughters of the parties get married, the Respondent would happily participate in the functions, and the appellant, the children and other family members would respectfully and gracefully, with love & affection, welcome him to the functions and facilitate his participation in the functions wholeheartedly.”

Poonam Sethi v. Sanjay Sethi