A Karnataka High Court judge asked a woman to earn herself rather than ask for a huge, "unreasonable" amount of alimony from her ex-husband. The woman had demanded an alimony of six lakhs per month. The judge said the amount for the monthly maintenance of the woman was too huge and a punishment for the husband.
Reportedly, the woman demanded a monthly maintenance of Rs 6,16,300. The video of the proceeding is doing rounds on social media. It was viewed more than 2 million times.
The woman's lawyer's arguments
The woman's lawyer argued that the woman needed four to five lakhs for her knee pain treatment, physiotherapy, medicines and other related expenses. Moreover, the woman needed an amount of Rs 50,000 for "basic needs" like bangles, sandals, slippers, watches etc and Rs 60,000 for food. The lawyer also said that the woman's ex-husband wears all branded clothes, each costing around Rs 10,000 while the woman has to adjust with old clothes.
However, the lawyer also acknowledged that the ex-husband is also paying for the children's school and tuition fees.
The judge's order
The judge refused to accept the argument of the woman's lawyer supporting the claim of a woman spending an amount of six lakhs monthly. The court headed by a female judge said that the amount was unreasonable and if the woman wanted to spend so much she must earn herself.
The judge said, “Please don’t tell the court that this is what a person requires. “Six lakh, sixteen thousand, three hundred per month? Does anybody spend this much? A single lady for herself?” Saying that the alimony must not be a punishment for the husband, the judge added, “You have no other responsibility of the family. You don’t have to take care of the children."
“Well if she wants to spend, let her earn. Not on the husband," the judge dismissed the petition.
The video is being appreciated by the netizens. It was shared by an X user Deepika Narayan Bhardwaj. The video was embedded with a caption which read, "KARNATAKA HIGH COURT: Wife asking for 6,16,000 per month maintenance 4-5 Lacs per month for knee pain, physiotherapy 15000 per month for shoes dresses 60000 per month for food inside home Few more thousands for dining outside home JUDGE : ASK HER TO EARN."
Netizens' reaction
One of the users commented, “Once again female judges showing the way with the right questions and correct judgements! Hope this happens a lot more often." Another said, “This Judge is truly a future CJI material. Hope this is noticed and taken into cognisance."
Author Isha Singh raised a compelling question and commented, “Her husband earns in crores, so she wants to maintain the same standards. Spending 4-5 lakhs on doctors? Even if a physiotherapist charges 1,500-3,000 per visit and comes daily for a month, the total would be at most 1 lakh. How are they even calculating this? And a gold loan? If they’re so rich, why would they need a gold loan?”
Playing with law: woman married seven times to get maintenance money
A similar video of conflict over maintenance amount went viral a few days ago. The video was shared by the same X user.
In the video, a case proceeding of a woman in Karnataka who married six people in order to earn maintenance money was going on. She was now reportedly fighting with her seventh husband for maintenance. The woman stayed with each husband for six months or a year. She then filed a case against them under Section 498A soon after. In the current case too she has demanded maintenance from her seventh husband.
However, the court understood her pattern as the judge stated, "You are playing with the law." The court went through the previous cases filed by the woman and said that this case is an "epitome" of citizens playing with the law.
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