Divorced Muslim Woman Can Claim Maintenance as Long as She Does Not Remarry

Allahabad High Court has said that a divorced Muslim woman is entitled to claim maintenance from her husband under the Criminal Procedure Code after the expiry of the ‘iddat’ period as long as she does not remarry.

In Islamic law, a divorced woman has to wait during the ‘iddat’ period for about three months before she can remarry. The high court added that provision of section 125 of CrPC is a beneficial piece of legislation and hence its benefit must be reached to the divorced Muslim women too.

Hearing the matter, a division bench of Justice Karunesh Singh Pawar made the observation while modifying the order of the trial court passed in January 2007 and also allowed the review petition filed against the order passed by the Additional Sessions Judge, Pratapgarh in May 2008.

A Muslim woman had moved to the trial court seeking maintenance for herself and her two minor children. The trial court awarded maintenance to them from the date of the order had passed. The husband then challenged the trial court order before the Additional Session Judge (ASJ), Pratapgarh, by filing a revision plea.

The Additional Session Judge then overturned the order saying since a divorced Muslim woman is entitled to maintenance under section 3 and section 4 of the Act, she is not entitled to get maintenance under section 125 of CrPC.

Importantly, the court had said that since the wife has accepted the divorce, she would be guided by the provisions of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act. The petition filed by her seeking maintenance under section 125 of CrPC will not be maintainable.

Allahabad High Court noted that the provisions under Section 125 CRPC have beneficial laws and the benefits should be available to divorced Muslim women. Further, relying on Shabana Bano case, the court concluded that divorced Muslim women shall be entitled to claim maintenance from her husband even after the expiry of the period of iddat under section 125 of CRPC only until she remarries.