If a wife’s actions or omissions contribute to her husband’s incapacity to earn, she cannot claim maintenance from him, the Allahabad High Court has held.
The Court dismissed a revision petition of a woman seeking maintenance from her husband, a homeopathy doctor, who was allegedly shot at by his brother-in-law and father-in-law during an altercation at his clinic.
Upholding the decision of a family court in Kushinagar, which rejected the maintenance application of the wife, Justice Lakshmi Kant Shukla observed that granting maintenance in such a scenario would result in grave injustice, particularly when the man’s earning capacity was destroyed by the criminal acts of the wife’s family.
Ved Prakash Singh was allegedly shot at by his wife’s brother and father during an altercation at his clinic, rendering him incapable of earning or providing maintenance to her.
The High Court noted that a pellet remains lodged in the husband’s spinal cord and a surgery to remove it carries a high risk of paralysis, leaving him unable to sit comfortably or maintain employment.