Husband Obligated to Provide Maintenance Despite No Formal Income : Allahabad High Court 

The Allahabad High Court has underscored that husbands are duty-bound to provide maintenance to their wives, even if they have no formal income, as they could earn approximately Rs 300-400 per day as unskilled laborers. 

This ruling came as the court dismissed a revision petition filed by a husband against a family court order mandating him to pay Rs 2,000 monthly as maintenance to his estranged wife.

Justice Renu Agrawal of the Lucknow bench made these observations while addressing the revision petition. The court directed the principal judge of the trial court to take necessary measures for the recovery of the maintenance already awarded to the wife.

The case involved a couple married in 2015, with the wife filing an FIR against the husband and in-laws over dowry demands in 2016. The family court, under section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), had ordered the husband to pay Rs 2,000 per month as maintenance. 

The husband, in his revision petition, claimed his wife was earning Rs 10,000 monthly from teaching, and he was under medical treatment and had familial responsibilities.

The High Court, however, noted that the husband failed to provide evidence supporting his claim about the wife’s income. It further emphasized that even if the husband had no documented income, he remained duty-bound to provide maintenance, citing a Supreme Court precedent. 

The court highlighted the husband’s physical capability to earn through unskilled labor, emphasizing the obligation to fulfill spousal maintenance responsibilities.