Section 125 CrPC — Maintenance to Parents · 16 September 2026
Suraj Goyal v. CM Goyal: Madras High Court Holds a Father Who Is Not Destitute Cannot Claim Section 125 CrPC Maintenance for Lack of Moral Support
High Court of Judicature at Madras · 2026 LiveLaw (Mad) 449; CRL RC No. 97 of 2026
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An 80-year-old father, who ran a business in appliances and computers and had given his son a 50% share, claimed maintenance from his son under Section 125 CrPC. He said he had bought a flat in Perambur and moved in with his son's family, that the son and his wife then persuaded him to execute a settlement deed and afterwards stopped paying the property tax and electricity bills, and that he had no income of his own. The Family Court awarded him ₹75,000 a month. The son said the father had ill-treated the family and had extra-marital affairs, that he had retained a life interest under the settlement deed but later tried to cancel it and, after failing before the Senior Citizens Act authorities, filed the maintenance case as an afterthought, and that the father had rental and business income, fixed deposits of about ₹10 lakh, and had gifted money to his grandchildren.
Justice Sunder Mohan found that the maintenance case was filed only after the father failed to cancel the settlement deed, that he lived in flats in which he kept a life interest, and that he had income from shops and business and had given substantial sums to the grandchildren, so he was not living in vagrancy or destitution. While calling the facts disturbing, the Court held Section 125 must be applied according to law and not moral or sentimental considerations. It set aside the Family Court's order, directing that any maintenance already paid is not to be recovered.
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