HC: Father must support daughter till her marriage

Rosy Sequeira TNN 

Mumbai: An adult, unmarried daughter is entitled to receive maintenance from her father, the Bombay high court has said, coming to the rescue of a 20-year-old who was left in the cold by her Bahrain-based dad who had remarried. A father of three, he had agreed to pay maintenance to his two minor children but not his eldest daughter, saying she was legally not entitled to it as she was a major. 
    The girl’s mother had challenged the family court’s order last year upholding the man’s claim and rejecting maintenance for their eldest daughter who was then 19. Justice K U Chandiwal of the HC recently agreed with her lawyer’s contention that a father is liable to pay maintenance to daughters till they marry and added that though a major, the eldest daughter has no independent income and is entirely dependent on her mother, a homemaker who has studied up to SSC. 
    The woman’s petition said the couple, who married on November 29, 1987, has three children—two daughters and a son. The man worked in Bahrain and would visit his wife and family who stayed in Mumbai every two years. After the death of her father-in-law, the woman went to Mahad in August 2008 to stay with her mother-in-law. On returning to Mumbai two years later, she learned that he had allegedly divorced her through talaq and remarried. 

‘Family court did not cite any reasons’ 
Mumbai: On May 23, 2011 the wife, who was divorced through talaq, moved the family court for maintenance under Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. She claimed her husband who was working in the finance department of the Bahrain government for over 25 years easily earned over Rs 90,000 per month. However, he claimed he got only Rs 30,000 per month. The family court, taking into consideration his statement, directed him to pay Rs 5,000 to his wife and Rs 2,500 each to the two minor children as interim maintenance. 
    In his October 16 order, Justice Chandiwal noted that family court principal judge U S Iyer did not assign reasons for rejecting maintenance for the couple’s eldest daughter as she had come of age and said the order requires interference. 
    He ordered the man to pay his eldest daughter Rs 1,500 as an interim measure from the date of the petition till the application for maintenance is finally heard. He also directed that an additional Rs 5,000 be paid to the wife. The HC also asked the family court to dispose of the main petition for maintenance within three months.


Source:::: The Times of India, 29-10-2012, p.01, http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Client.asp?Daily=TOIM&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI&Enter=true&Skin=TOINEW