MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court has denied maintenance to a woman whose marriage was declared void after she concealed her subsisting first marriage, holding that a person who acts deceitfully cannot invoke the beneficial provisions of the law to claim maintenance.
A single-judge bench of Justice M.M. Sathaye dismissed the woman’s petition challenging a sessions court order that denied her maintenance while continuing maintenance for her minor son.
The woman had approached a magistrate’s court in 2010, alleging that her husband had subjected her to physical and mental harassment, demanded money and abandoned her and their child soon after the marriage. She sought monthly maintenance of ₹15,000 each for herself and her son, claiming that her husband owned agricultural land and earned income from a godown.
The husband argued that the woman had concealed her earlier marriage and had married him without divorcing her first husband. Since the marriage had subsequently been declared null and void, he contended that she was not entitled to maintenance. He, however, did not dispute the child’s claim.
In 2015, the magistrate directed the husband to pay ₹2,000 a month to the woman and ₹1,000 to the child. The sessions court later set aside the maintenance awarded to the woman while retaining the amount granted to the child.
