Once man gets married, he is bound to maintain wife: Allahabad HC
Prayagraj (PTI): The Allahabad High Court has held that a man cannot escape the responsibility of maintaining his wife due to financial hardship, observing that one who believes he cannot maintain should not get married in the first place.
A bench of Justices Atul Sreedharan and Vivek Saran rejected a plea filed by a husband challenging a family court order directing him to pay maintenance to his wife during the pendency of a matrimonial dispute case.
"Once a man marries a woman, he is bound under the law to maintain her," the bench said.
In the present case, the family court had directed the appellant-husband, Tej Bahadur Maurya, to pay Rs 4,000 as interim maintenance to his wife.
The husband moved the high court arguing that the family court did not take his financial condition into account while passing the impugned order.
He further said that the family court overlooked the fact that the wife is living with another man and that there was a mutual separation between the parties through an affidavit.
The bench noted that the family court had properly considered these allegations.
The high court took into account the claim of the respondent-wife that she has to bear the burden of maintaining her children and she is without any source of independent income.
After going through the record, the bench in its order passed on April 7 opined that keeping in view the cost of living today, it cannot be said that the amount is excessive and unaffordable for the appellant.
The high court also refused to accept the appellant's argument that he is only a labourer as no further information relating to the same had been given to this court.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Delhi court directs FIR against Abhijit Mitra for objectionable posts against Newslaundry journos
A Delhi court on Wednesday directed the registration of a FIR against Abhijit Iyer-Mitra over objectionable social media posts targeting journalists of Newslaundry, including Manisha Pande, Bar and Bench reported.
The order was passed by Judicial Magistrate First Class Bhanu Pratap Singh of the Saket Court.
The Court observed that the accused made ‘sexually coloured’ remarks against Manisha Pande and other journalists.
It noted that the tweets were prima facie intended to insult Pande and that she was specifically named in the posts.
“Therefore, on perusal of the application and the material placed on record by the complainant, this Court is of the view that the content of the tweets posted by the accused on “X” platform discloses commission of cognizable offences under section 75(3) and 79 of BNS,” the order said.
Stating that there is a need for investigation in the matter, the court stated that “it is of the view that police investigation is necessary as the offence has been committed in cyber space on platform "X".
“Therefore, police investigation is necessary to verify the user account on platform "X" from which the said tweets were published,” it added.
“Further police investigation is also necessary to trace and recover the computer source/electronic device from which the said tweets were published. This Court is also of the view that the Action Taken Report which was filed by PSI Ombir in the present case is not satisfactory as the above stated tweets were not considered in the report," the order further read.
Manisha Pande and six other journalists approached the Court, alleging that Iyer-Mitra referred to them as prostitutes repeatedly in a series of posts and articles on the social media platform X.
The journalists had also moved the Delhi High Court with a defamation suit against Iyer-Mitra. The suit challenged his remarks describing the organisation as a “basti/brothel" and its journalists as "prostitutes".
They argued that the remarks amount to a “sustained campaign of vilification”, which caused them mental trauma, harassment, and embarrassment. The petition sought a permanent injunction, a written apology, and damages of Rs 2 crore.
On May 21, 2025, the Court recorded Iyer-Mitra’s undertaking to delete certain posts within five hours. The matter remains pending before the High Court.
Advocates Bani Dikshit and Udhav Khanna appeared for the Newslaundry journalists in the case.
