Recently, the Karnataka High Court observed that if a wife leaves her marital house due to ill-treatment by her husband then the husband can’t claim that the wife moved out by consent and so he is not liable to pay maintenance.

The Single Bench of Justice M Nagaprasanna made this observation while dismissing a plea filed by one Satish N who challenged the demand for the maintenance from his wife.

In this case, the couple got married in 2016 and the wife registered a complaint u.s 498A, 504 r.w Section 34 of IPC and later sought maintenance u.s 125 CrPC.

Before the court, the husband referred to Section 125(4) CrPC as per which the wife is not entitled to maintenance if she moved out with mutual consent.

The court heard the wife’s submission wherein she stated that she faced unbearable harassment and ill-treatment from her husband and mother-in-law and because of this, she moved out of the marital house.

After hearing the submissions, the court opined that the wife moved out of the marital house due to ill-treatment and not by mutual consent.

Therefore, the court ruled that no grounds had been raised to warrant the court’s interference and proceeded to dismiss the husband’s petition.

Title: Satish N vs. Ambika J

Case No.: Crl Petition 474/2022