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Source: The post is based on the article “Every healthy man is obliged to provide for his wife, children: SC” published in The Hindu on 8th October 2022.
What is the News?
The Supreme Court has recently said that a healthy man is obliged to provide through legal means, even by physical labour, for his wife and minor children.
About the case
A woman failed to win her case for maintenance from her estranged husband in the Family Court and the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
The lower court had denied her claim for maintenance on perfunctory grounds. The husband contended that she had failed to prove that she could not maintain herself. So she filed an appeal in Supreme Court.
What are the SC observations on the Rights of Man for the maintenance of family?
The court said it was a basic canon of law “that it is the sacrosanct duty of the husband to provide financial support to the wife and to the minor children. The husband is required to earn money even by physical labour… If he is able-bodied, he cannot avoid his obligation, except on the legally permissible grounds.”
The apex court also said the purpose of maintenance was to prevent even the slightest possibility of an estranged wife facing destitution.
