Should Women Pay Maintenance To Unemployed/Ill Husbands?

The Bombay High Court, in a recent ruling, directed a woman to pay maintenance to her unemployed and ill husband. The court upheld a lower court's decision asking the woman to pay Rs 10,000 to her unemployed husband, who also suffers from a medical ailment monthly. Although the wife stated that she had resigned from her job as a branch manager at a bank, the court's decision remained unchanged. 

As per the reports, the husband filed for divorce in 2016. Both the husband and the wife sought maintenance from each other. However, the lower court dismissed the wife's plea and upheld the husband's plea for maintenance, as he stated that the wife was earning Rs 65,000 a month and directed the wife to pay a monthly maintenance of Rs 10,000 to the husband. 

The wife submitted her resignation letter from 2019 to support her claim of being unemployed. Despite that, the lower court stood by its decision. The court recognised the fact that the wife was paying a home loan and was also looking after the expenses of the couple's minor child. However, the lower court in Kalyan said, "It is necessary for her to disclose the source from which the expenses were being met. It is therefore clear that even after her resignation from the bank, she was earning and had a source of income." 

The wife then approached the high court, which also rejected her plea for maintenance. Justice Sharmila Deshmukh said that the advocate representing the wife didn't contend with the fact that she is earning today. Moreover, the judge said that the wife didn't submit any documents to corroborate her income in the trial court. 

The judge stated, "If it was the contention of the wife that she had the liability for payment of certain expenses, it was necessary for her to place the same on record so that the trial court could have assessed the quantum of maintenance which is to be granted to the husband." 

The judge concluded by reinstating, "Even if it is taken that the wife has certain expenses to be met, it was incumbent upon her to place the necessary material before the trial court so that it would have been in position to assess the quantum of maintenance to be granted. Unfortunately, the same has not been done in this case."

This is not the first time that a wife has been asked to pay the maintenance. 

Other court rulings in which wives were directed to pay maintenance

 In 2008, Delhi High Court ruled that if a wife is able to earn enough money to support herself post-divorce, the right to alimony stands cancelled. “Where a wife has no income or is without any support for maintaining herself, the court has to pass an order considering the income and living status of the husband. However, where the wife and husband both are earning and having a good salary, an order is not required,” said Justice S.N Dhingra

In a 2020 case from Maharashtra, a woman who is a school teacher has been asked to pay maintenance to her ex-husband of 3,000 rupees every month by Bombay HC Aurangabad Bench. The separated husband claimed that he gave up on his dreams to help his ex-wife earn degrees. He toiled at home and took care of housework so that his ex-wife could earn MA and BEd degrees, which enabled her to secure a job.

Understanding the complexity of the right to maintenance

To talk about the right to maintenance is complicated. We cannot make any assumptions or generalisations. Often, in our society, women are not allowed to earn after marriage. They are supposed to take care of the family. On the other hand, the husbands are responsible for paying the finances of the family. So during divorce, it was justifiable for the husband to pay maintenance to the wife.

But today, the times have changed. Women are earning irrespective of their marital status, even though the statistics of women's participation in the workforce is still lower than men. The financial independence of women is necessary for opting for divorce and walking out of an abusive marriage. Women who earn have futuristic ambitions so that they are never dependent on anyone for money. 

Moreover, men are embracing the idea of being homemakers too. I recently interacted with men of today's generation about their thoughts on being homemakers. Most of them replied positively and said that they do not consider the job of homemaker as gendered. 

Why Right to maintenance is gender-neutral

Then, the right to maintenance too shouldn't be gendered. In fact, the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court in 2020 ruled that Sections 24 and 25 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, are gender neutral. The sections deal with the maintenance right of a partner after divorce and do not specify a gender to define the word "partner" here. So if a woman is independent while her husband is a homemaker (notice the change of gender roles), then it is justifiable for the woman to pay maintenance. 

Kirti Mittal, a corporate lawyer, told SheThePeople that the right to maintenance is gender-neutral. A husband, too, can claim maintenance as much as a woman can. 

Even if the woman has resigned from her job, she can always get another job and maintain herself and her estranged husband. In July 2023, Justice Rajendra Badamikar said that a wife who was previously employed is legally bound to earn again and pay for her livelihood and can only seek supportive maintenance from her husband, not full maintenance. 

However, our society is still of the opinion that men should be the breadwinners, not women. Sometimes, this perspective affects the judgements too. For instance, in January, the Allahabad High Court said that a man is duty-bound to pay for the maintenance of his wife even if he doesn't have any income-providing job. The court said that a man can always earn ₹ 300–400 a day by working as an unskilled labourer. 

The husband had pleaded that his estranged wife was a graduate and was earning ₹ 10,000 a month from teaching. He also said he was seriously ill and was under treatment. He further pleaded that he was working as a labourer, living in a rented room and had to take care of his parents and sisters.

But the court rejected his plea and said that the husband was a healthy man and capable of earning enough money through physical labour. 

Men can demand maintenance, provided they share responsibilities

Since the right to maintenance is not based on gender, we need to normalise women paying maintenance to their estranged husbands. However, there are a few more conditions to consider. First, a husband who doesn't have a job should be a homemaker, as we expect from unemployed women. The husband cannot just sit idle and eat from his wife's earnings. Second, post-divorce, the husband too should take on the responsibility of caring for children rather than leaving the wife alone to take care of expenses, maintenance, and children. A woman seeks maintenance so that she can stand on her own two feet after divorce. A man who demands maintenance too should do the same. Third, and most importantly, stop shaming women as gold diggers who demand maintenance, because now it is clear that men too need it. So are they too gold diggers?

Adding to this, Kirti Mittal said, "Even though maintenance is supposed to be paid for the lifetime, it ceases once the estranged husband/wife demanding maintenance remarries. Moreover, the spouse paying maintenance can challenge the direction of paying maintenance in court when the other spouse has started earning. However, it will be based on the court's discretion if the spouse demanding maintenance is earning enough to maintain themselves." 

Mittal further said, "It is not advisable to be dependent on maintenance. If the spouse paying the maintenance undergoes accident or death, the maintenance automatically ceases."

So no matter who is demanding maintenance, the amount should be used to build independence. After all, the crux of divorce is to not be dependent on the spouse. 

Views expressed are the author's own.