NO MAINTENANCE FOR DESERTING WIFE!

The learned Magistrate has rightly held that the respondent-wife had not been able to establish the allegations of cruelty or demand of dowry and that on her own admission she was living in the house constructed by her husband. On the admission of Goma Devi that for about 14 years the husband used to give his entire income to her and he was maintaining the family and that her husband was always ready and willing to keep her and her children and there was not love lost between them, the learned Magistrate was perfectly justified in holding that there was no negligence by the husband and the wife was herself responsible for the trouble in the marital relations. The learned Addl. Sessions Judge it is obvious was influenced by the fact that the husband has filed a divorce petition. By this he presumed that the husband Bheekha Ram was not willing to continue with the marital relations. In my opinion this could not be the valid ground or interfering in the order of the learned Magistrate. The matter was to be decided on the basis of the material available on the record of the case under Section 125.