HC: Wife bestowed with inchoate rights by marriage

Chandigarh: The wife is bestowed with certain inchoate rights by virtue of marriage, notwithstanding the possibility of these being void ipso jure (by the law itself), the Punjab and Haryana high court observed on Friday, while hearing an appeal against dismissal of a plea on maintenance allowance.
Taking the view that the term, ‘wife’, must be given an expansive meaning to realize the social purpose behind it, which is to avoid vagrancy and destitution, the HC made it plain that subsistence of the first marriage does not disentitle the woman to claim maintenance from the person with whom she had been residing with as his ‘wife’.
Justice Harpreet Singh Brar of the HC has passed these orders while allowing an application filed by Ravneet Sharma challenging the order of August 22, 2017, passed by the district judge, family court, Barnala, in Punjab, through which her plea for maintenance allowance was dismissed. As per the case, the marriage between the petitioner and her husband was solemnized on September 27, 2014, as per Hindu rites and rituals and no child was born out of this wedlock.
However, a matrimonial dispute ensued between the couple, and the petitioner filed an application for maintenance, which was dismissed by the family court, stating that a valid marriage does not subsist between the parties.
The petitioner then approached the HC stating that the family court had fallen into grave error by holding that the petitioner is not entitled to maintenance as the parties were merely in a live-in relationship, and not married. After hearing all the parties, the HC judge observed that in the absence of a finding to the contrary, “this court is bound to draw a conclusion indicating the existence of a relationship in the nature of marriage.”
Pointing out that the present petition is limited to grant of maintenance, the HC asked the district judge, family court, Barnala to “decide upon the quantum of maintenance and prescribe conditions, if required.”