The Bench of Justices Mukta Gupta and Neena Bansal Krishna of Delhi High Court has said while hearing a case that just because the daughter was living with maternal grandparents, it canโt be said that the father stands absolved of all responsibilities towards his child.
In this case, the couple got married in 2011 and a child was born out of wedlock in 2015.
Soon thereafter, the relationship between the couple deteriorated and in 2016 the husband found out that his wife developed an illicit relationship with her cousin brother.
After this, the husband moved out and filed a divorce petition on the grounds of adultery and cruelty.
The wife on the other hand filed a complaint U/S 12 of Protection of Women Against Domestic Violence Act of 2005 that is pending adjudication in the Mahila Court.
In the divorce plea, the wife filed an application U/S 24 of the Act claiming a sum of Rs 45,000 for her child and herself but the court noted that the husbandโs income was Rs 1,09,000 per month and therefore granted maintenance of Rs 20,000 to the wife and child.
By way of this plea, the husband approached the court stating that maintenance should be reduced as he has lost his job and was now making Rs 40000 per month. The husband also said that he has to take care of his aged parents and as the child was living with her maternal grandparents, the maintenance amount should be reduced.
However, the court rejected the husband ‘s plea with the following observations:
- A husband canโt be absolved of his responsibilities towards his wife and child just because he has to take care of his aged parents.
- The court further said that even if the child is living with her maternal grandparents, the husband still has to maintain her.
Thus, the court upheld the maintenance award decided by the Family Court and dismissed the husbandโs plea.
