MAINTEINANCE RIGHTS OF DESERTED HINDU WIFE

ABSTRACT Maintenance refers to payments which a husband is under an obligation to make to a wife either during the subsistence of the marriage or upon separation or divorce. This liability of the husband flows from the bond of marriage. A wife is entitled to claim maintenance under the Hindu personal laws as well as Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. While under the personal laws an application for maintenance can be made only if there are, or have been, matrimonial proceedings under the Act, in case of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 there need not be any matrimonial litigation and yet the wife may seek maintenance. This maintenance rights has also been provided to the deserted wives. In explanation to sub-section (1) of Section 13, Hindu Marriage Act, Parliament has thus explained desertion: “The expression „desertion‟ means the desertion of the petitioner by the other party to the marriage without reasonable cause and without the consent or against the wish of such party, and includes the wilful neglect of the petitioner by the other party to marriage, and its grammatical variations and cognate expressions shall be construed accordingly.” In its essence desertion means the intentional permanent forsaking and abandonment of one spouse by the other without that other‟s consent and reasonable cause. It is a total repudiation on the obligations of the marriage. This research report will be doctrinal in nature which will include all the three major sources of various legislations and also an in-depth analysis of various case laws. The research paper has been divided into chapters which talk about maintenance under Hindu Marriage Act, Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act and Code of Criminal Procedure.