Madhya Pradesh HC triples maintenance for child marriage victim, says Rs 2,000 per month 'cannot be justified'

NEW DELHI: The Madhya Pradesh high court has ruled that a woman who was married off as a child cannot be denied reasonable maintenance, sharply criticising the meagre amount awarded to her by the lower court and observing that she was being victimised twice, first by child marriage, and then by the justice system.Justice Gajendra Singh of the high court at Indore enhanced the monthly maintenance from Rs 2,000 to Rs 6,000, payable from the date of the original application, that is August 7, 2021.What was the dispute aboutThe woman, Ranu, had filed a maintenance application before the family court, on August 7, 2021, alleging cruelty and neglect by her husband Himanshu.She sought Rs 10,000 per month as maintenance and an additional Rs 2,000 towards accommodation. The couple had married on April 27, 2015, when, as the husband himself admitted in his defence, the wife was only 13 years old and he was 18.The family court awarded her only Rs 2,000 per month, effective from the date of that order — April 19, 2023 — not from when she had filed her application. Ranu then moved the high court in revision.The husband's defence before the lower court had been that no physical relationship was ever established, that the alleged cruelty was false, that all stridhan remained with the wife, and that she had no interest in continuing the marriage.What the high court saidThe court observed that if his version was accepted at face value, it only confirmed that Ranu was a victim of child marriage, and that she was now being victimised a second time by being given a paltry amount of maintenance."If the defense of the respondent/husband is taken at its face value then it emerges that revision petitioner was a victim of child marriage and thereafter in the grab of customs, she again is being victimized by providing the only meager amount of maintenance. It is sad picture of the right of the girls. She cannot be denied reasonable amount of maintenance," the court said.On the Rs 2,000 amount awarded by the family court, the high court said that "the amount of Rs 2,000 per month cannot be justified and hence, it requires enhancement."The court also addressed the husband's potential hardship in meeting the enhanced maintenance obligation, making clear that responsibility for this situation lay not only with him but also with the families that arranged the child marriage."Parents, who are instrumental in solemnizing such marriage cannot escape from the liability. If the husband feels hardships then he has to take help of those parents who were instrumental in performing the child marriage."Accordingly, the revision petition was allowed and the maintenance was enhanced to Rs 6,000 per month, effective from August 7, 2021 — the date of the original application.