Supreme Court Stays Delhi HC Order Sentencing Business Tycoon’s Son To 3 Months Prison For Not Paying Maintenance To Ex-Partner

The Supreme Court recently stayed the order of the Delhi High Court which sentenced the son of a business tycoon to three months simple imprisonment for failing to pay maintenance to his former partner.

The Court also stayed the High Court direction to issue a Look Out Circular against the appellant. A bench comprising Justices BR Gavai, CT Ravikumar and PV Sanjay Kumar passed the interim order while admitting the appeal filed against the order of the Delhi High Court.

The High Court had passed the order while hearing a plea moved by the woman alleging contempt of court by the man for failing to comply with an order passed by a coordinate bench on June 01.

The parties are involved in multiple proceedings, including visitation rights of their four year old minor child and criminal case filed by the woman alleging that he raped her on the false pretext of marrying her. A trial court in March had directed the Delhi Police to register an FIR against the man after a case was filed by the woman. However, the order was stayed by the High Court after the man challenged the same.

Before the Supreme Court, the appellant argued that the woman was making contradictory arguments - one one hand, she claimed to be his wife for the sake of maintenance and on the other hand, she disputed marriage for the sake of criminal case.

The appellant was represented by Senior Advocate Mr. Vikas Singh, Senior Advocate Ms. Kiran Suri, Senior Advocate Mr. Gopal Sankaranarayanan, who were assisted by Mr. Nikhil Kohli, Mr. Gaurav Gupta, Ms. Ritika Gambhir Kohli, [Advocate on Record] and Akshaya Ganpath.