Overview
- The Delhi High Court dismissed a husband’s revision plea and upheld a Family Court order requiring him to pay Rs.11,000 a month each to his wife and two daughters, finding his claim of no regular income was unsupported by evidence.
- The Bombay High Court at Nagpur modified maintenance awards for an estranged wife and daughter and ordered payments of Rs.12,000 and Rs.7,000 from January 2024, noting that the wife’s education did not prove she was able to find work.
- Both courts relied on documentary proof such as salary slips and bank credits and on Supreme Court precedents that stress a husband’s duty to maintain his wife and minor children even when earnings are irregular.
- Judges reiterated that Section 125 of the CrPC is a fast, social‑welfare remedy to prevent destitution and that revisional challenges to Family Court findings can succeed only by showing clear perversity or illegality.
- The rulings sharpen the practical test for maintenance claims by prioritizing financial records over assertions of irregular income or education and may increase the likelihood that Family Court awards are enforced rather than reopened on revision.