Maintenance — Muslim Women Under Section 125 · 4 December 2009
Shabana Bano v. Imran Khan: Section 125 Maintenance Survives Relief Under the Muslim Women's Protection Act
Supreme Court of India · (2010) 1 SCC 666; AIR 2010 SC 305
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The parties married under Muslim personal law at Gwalior in 2001. The wife later left the matrimonial home, alleging cruelty and dowry demands, and filed an application under Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure before the Family Court seeking maintenance for herself. A question arose as to whether her right to claim maintenance under Section 125 CrPC survived, given that she had also sought relief under the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986, a special law governing maintenance for divorced Muslim women following their period of iddat.
The Supreme Court held that a divorced Muslim woman's right to maintenance under Section 125 CrPC is not extinguished merely because proceedings have also been initiated or relief obtained under the 1986 Act. The two remedies were held to operate independently, and her entitlement to maintenance under Section 125 CrPC continues beyond the iddat period, until she remarries. The judgment is regularly cited for clarifying the relationship between the general maintenance remedy under the CrPC and the special statutory scheme applicable to Muslim women.
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