What is CrPC 125?
Section 125 of CrPC assists with ‘Order of maintenance of wives, children and parents.’ Maintenance in the lawful sense is money or alimony that someone should regularly pay to a former wife, especially when they have had children jointly. Every person must uphold his wife, children, and aged parents who cannot live independently. When the party has violated Section 125 of CrPC, the Court could order the respondent to care for the accused. The maintenance law in India enacts the responsibility of a man to give maintenance to his parents, wife, and children when they are inadequate at maintaining themselves.
The important matter of the provision of this section is to support improving the economic situation and restoring the importance of divorced and neglected wives who are inadequate of supporting themselves. Section 125 is a nonreligious provision legislating maintenance laws beyond all the personal laws.
Who can claim maintenance under CrPC 125?
According to Section 125, the following persons can claim maintenance:
Wife from his Husband
A woman is considered as the wife only if her marriage to the man is lawfully accurate. For Hindus, the second wife cannot claim maintenance as a second marriage is prohibited by law and is not approved as being valid. The second wife is authorized to assert maintenance only if the Husband disguised his first marriage from her.
Live-in relationships are determined to be marriage. The wife who lives individually without reasonable purposes or due to personal mutual agreement cannot claim maintenance. The wife includes a divorced woman, but she must not be remarried on the date that she pertains for maintenance. A separated Muslim wife can claim maintenance even if the iddat period has been authorized, but she must not be remarried. The age of the wife is insignificant in maintenance requests. Also, the wife should not be staying in Adultery.
Authorized or unauthorized minor child from his father
Maintenance claims can be made by male and female children, regardless of whether they were born within or outside the legal marriage of the father and mother. To assert maintenance, they must be minors. They can be married or single. Adult children can only claim maintenance from their parents if they have some physical or mental abnormality that prevents them from earning a living. An unmarried adult daughter can demand maintenance from her parents.
Married minor girls can assert maintenance from their parents until they turn 18 if their husbands do not have adequate means to maintain them. Yet, married adult girls cannot claim maintenance from their parents.
Father or mother from their son or daughter
Whether natural or adoptive, both the parents can assert maintenance from any one or more of their children. Daughters are also responsible for paying maintenance to the mother and the father. A stepmother can claim maintenance only if she is a widow and does not have natural-born sons or daughters.
The practice of powers to allow maintenance is judicial. Only first-class judicial magistrates have been empowered to deal with such maintenance matters and grant the maintenance if there’s a need.
Who can file 125 CrPC?
Proceeding of Section 125 can be seized in the following district:
•Where he is, or
•Where he or his wife resides, or
•Where he last lived with his wife or mother of an unauthorized child.
•Proof to be taken in the existence of a person against whom maintenance is to be requested.
•If a person is knowingly avoiding a warrant, then the ex-parte proof is seized in that case.
Some of the conditions for granting maintenance are: Person from whom maintenance is asserted should retain the capacity to pay maintenance. Capacity means being employed, possessing land, maintaining a source of income, or having a healthy body able to work. Persons asserting maintenance must be incapable of maintaining themselves. No maintenance is given if a person is healthy, sufficiently educated, or eligible to pursue gainful employment. Wives and aged parents are commonly provided maintenance.
What is maintenance under section 125 of CrPC?
Maintenance in law is interpreted as the amount which is paid to the dependent wife, child, or parents to maintain themselves. The amount can be compensated either by making one lump sum payment or by way of monthly remunerations. Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 lays down the vision of maintenance along with the several personal laws that extend the right of maintenance to the wife and her parents and children. Maintenance is an important component that is taken into consideration by the Courts while deciding on Divorce Proceedings in India.
Is CrPC 125 a criminal case?
The code of Criminal Procedure Code is the main legislation on procedure for administration of substantive criminal law in India. But the nature of proceedings of CrPC 125 is civil. The jurisdiction of a magistrate under CrPC is not strictly criminal. Vijay Kumar Prasad Vs. The state of Bihar,(2004) 5 SCC 196 is a case law related to the same.
Can a wife claim maintenance without divorce under section 125 CrPC?
When both Husband and wife mutually decide to live separately and have not divorced, then the wife cannot claim maintenance from her spouse since she had agreed to stay separately from him, and he did not reject her.
The matter of maintenance without divorce comes when she stays individually from her Husband, or they are separated. A wife can claim maintenance simply when the Husband has preferred not to live with her without any proper reason or has rejected her. Furthermore, she can claim when she cannot endorse herself, particularly with the essential life requirements, or earns less amount from the job than her Husband. If the pair has a child from their relationship, the wife may also urge maintenance for the child. Actually, without divorce, maintenance arrives when she is separated from her Husband or her Husband has separated from her without any sufficient motive.
Can an earning wife claim maintenance?
Yes, working wives can claim maintenance. Even if the wife is employed, she is allowed the similar importance and standard of living that she enjoyed at her matrimonial home. Suppose her income is not sufficient in maintaining that same standard of living that she used to enjoy at her matrimonial home. In that case, she is allowed to get maintenance despite surviving as a working woman.
How much can I avoid paying maintenance for my wife?
Below given are the grounds on which maintenance can be denied:
• Wife Living separately without sufficient cause.
This ground is exceptionally modest but requires effective cross-examination. On this ground, the responsibility is on the wife to explain why she is living individually with the Husband.
• Wife living in Adultery
The Husband has the responsibility to prove that the wife living in Adultery is not allowed to maintain. But the important thing about this ground is that it does not apply to divorced wives.
• Separated by mutual consent
If there is an agreement that both Husband and wife are living separately and will not claim maintenance, then this can be grounds to deny maintenance.
If a wife did not possess any job or she was incapable of retaining herself, and she got the order of allowance under Section 125. But after a few months, if she is well settled, and she has the standards to maintain herself, in this case, the Court can order to eliminate or cancel the allowance.
How much maintenance should a wife get?
If the maintenance is paid every month, the Supreme Court of India has set 25% of the Husband’s net monthly salary as the norm amount that should be granted to the wife. There is no such norm for a one-time settlement, but usually, the amount ranges between 1/5th to 1/3rd of the Husband’s net worth.
The wife can request a monthly compensation of maintenance that she considers just and decent. This is usually agreed upon after evaluating the income of the person, the standard of living that is constant with the claimant’s status, and the distinct earnings, if any, of the claimant. The maintenance must aid in securing the same standard of living for the claimant.
Maintenance is payable either from the date of declaration of payment or from the date of application for maintenance, depending on the Court’s judgment of the cooperation and reasonable behaviour indicated by the parties. The amount and extent of maintenance generally depend upon how long the marriage existed. Marriages that lasted more than 10 years are allowed to consent to lifelong maintenance.
Conclusion
Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure is essential for protecting the rights of the divorced wife, children, and aged parents. It is made to protect them from particular livelihoods. These provisions give a simple, speedy, but limited relief that ensures that the neglected wife, children, and parents are not left beggared and destitute on society’s scrap heap, which can lead to a life of corruption and crime. One of the positive things about the section is that it is related to all persons belonging to religions and is not concerned with personal laws.