New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that a Muslim woman can seek maintenance from her husband under section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), which is applicable to all married women irrespective of religion.
A bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Augustine George Masih, which pronounced a separate but concurrent verdict, said section 125 of the erstwhile CrPC which deals with wife's legal right to maintenance, covers Muslim women.
"We are hereby dismissing the criminal appeal with the major conclusion that section 125 would be applicable to all women and not just married women," Justice Nagarathna said while pronouncing the verdict.
The bench said maintenance is not charity but the right of married women and it is applicable to all married women irrespective of their religion.
The top court dismissed the petition of one Mohd Abdul Samad, who has challenged the order of the Telangana High Court refusing to interfere with the maintenance order of the family court.
He has contended that a divorced Muslim woman is not entitled for maintenance under Section 125 of CrPC and has to invoke the provisions of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986.
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Jaipur (PTI): A student preparing for the NEET examination allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in a rented room in Rajasthan's Sikar on Friday, police said.
According to the police, the student allegedly hanged himself from a ceiling fan using his sister's scarf while one sister was attending coaching classes and the other was in the bathroom.
He had appeared in the NEET UG exam 2026, which was cancelled due to paper leak, they said.
Udyog Nagar SHO Rajesh Kumar said that the deceased, identified as Pradeep Meghwal, was a resident of Kanika ki Dhani village in Jhunjhunu's Gudha Gaudji area.
He had been living in a rented room in Sikar's Jaldhari Nagar area with his two sisters while preparing for NEET over the last three years.
His elder sister later found him hanging and informed the landlord and police after bringing him down, officials said.
The SHO said the body was kept at SK Hospital mortuary, and a postmortem had not been conducted.
The student's father, Rajesh Kumar Meghwal, told police that Pradeep's NEET examination had gone well and the family was expecting him to score around 650 marks.
Former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot expressed grief over the incident and linked it to anxiety among students after reports of irregularities and paper leaks in NEET 2026.
Pilot said repeated paper leak incidents and cancellation of examinations were affecting students' mental health and demanded a time-bound investigation and strict action against those responsible.
