Widowed Woman Paying Maintenance To In-Laws Is Not Needed: Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court recently ruled that a widow does not need to pay maintenance to her in-laws after the demise of her husband.

The in-laws had lodged a petition asking their daughter-in-law to pay maintenance to them as they had no income post their son's demise. The local court at Latur City, Maharashtra had ruled in favour of the in-laws granting them the maintenance money as the daughter-in-law had recently got a job post her husband's demise. The order was passed by the Nyayadhikari Gram Nyayalaya.

However, the woman, 38-year-old Shobha Tidke challenged this lower court hearing in the Bombay High Court as she felt wronged.

Widow Paying Maintenance To In-Laws

The Bombay High Court hearing was presided over by Justice Kishore Sant and  Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) was read out. Section 125 provides for a husband with means to financially look after himself to also look after his wife, parents, and his children if they are unable to do so for themselves.

It has no mention of widows paying maintenance to their husband's in-laws. Therefore, the widow should not have been ordered by the lower court to provide for her in-laws.

The deceased husband was an employee of Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC). Shortly after his death, the petitioner landed herself a job at JJ Hospital in Mumbai. Assessing this it was ruled that the woman was not hired on compassionate grounds as she was not hired by her husband's company.

Kantabai Tidke and Kishanrao Tidke, the petitioner's in-laws have a claim to the property. They also received monetary compensation worth 1.88 lakhs rupees post their son's demise from his company.

As the in-laws owned the property they resided on and had received compensation after their son's death, they had to means to look after themselves without did not have to depend on their widowed daughter-in-law.

The court, therefore, keeping all the case developments in synchronisation with the legalities in mind, ruled in favour of the widow.

Suggested Reading: Husband’s Duty To Maintain Wife When She Is Unable To Do So Herself: Punjab-Haryana HC