Rajasthan High Court Suo Moto Exercises Writ Jurisdiction Directing Husband To Pay Monthly Maintenance To Deserted Wife, Children

The Rajasthan High Court recently exercised its extraordinary writ jurisdiction and directed a man to pay monthly maintenance to his deserted wife and children as an interim measure. 

A Division Bench comprising Justice Sandeep Mehta and Justice Sameer Jain was considering a habeas corpus petition filed by a woman alleging that her husband was being detained and blackmailed by one of the respondents.

However, when produced before the Court, the detenue flatly refused to live with the petitioner, his wife, with whom he has two children. 

A case diary submitted by the AAG indicated that he had remarried but the detenue Rameshwar Tak bluntly refused this fact despite several documents of his subsequent marriage being made available to the Bench. 

"It is clear as day light that Shri Rameshwar Tak has intentionally deserted his wife, the present petitioner by keeping her in dark and has remarried," the Court observed at the outset.

When the Bench suggested to Tak that his family was in destitute due to his deceitful actions and that he should offer some maintenance to them, he refuted the same. Rather, he denied the allegation of re-marriage.

"Apparently, the alleged detenue is stating lies in this Court. Thus, we are compelled to 'suo motu', exercise extraordinary writ jurisdiction of this Court and direct that Rameshwar Tak shall, by way of an interim measure make payment of maintenance to the tune of Rs.10,000/- per month to the petitioner for her own and for the children's maintenance."

It was thereby directed that a file for grant of maintenance under Section 125 Cr.P.C to the petitioner and her children be registered by the Family Court on the basis of this order. 

The bench also directed the Family Court to conduct the proceedings expeditiously. It further ordered:

"The petitioner's counsel has provided her bank details to learned counsel Shri Jog Singh, representing the alleged detenue Shri Rameshwar Tak, who shall deposit a sum of Rs.10,000/- by way of interim maintenance into the said bank account on fifth day of every month till the disposal of the proceedings under Section 125 Cr.P.C. before the Family Court."

Advocate Arpit Samaria represented the petitioner in the matter while Advocate Anil Joshi appeared for the respondents. 

Case Title: Pintu Devi v. State of Rajasthan & Ors. 

Click Here To Read/Download The Order