Delhi court junks woman's maintenance plea, says she tried to hide financial and educational status to extort money
A Delhi court has dismissed a woman's maintenance plea noting that she tried to conceal her financial condition and educational experience to extort money from her husband.
'It prima facie seems that the petitioner (wife) has tried to conceal her true financial condition and working and educational experience in order to extort money by way of maintenance from the respondent (husband),' said Judicial Magistrate First Class (Mahila Court) in her order on Friday.
The woman had sought interim maintenance of Rs 50,000 (including Rs 18,000 for rent) from her husband submitting in her affidavits that she was an unemployed graduate and had no income.
Advocate Pravesh Dabas, who appeared for the husband, said his client's income was Rs 55,000 and that he paid a rent of Rs 8,000 and an EMI of Rs 35,000.
The couple married in July 2022 and separated in October 2023. Their divorce proceedings are underway.
It was the husband's contention that his wife had not disclosed her complete educational qualification. He brought on record her diploma certificate in computer science and engineering and her BEd certificate. He also submitted an offer letter for her from Little Millennium Education Pvt Ltd. The wife disclosed that she had taught at GD Goenka School for a year from September 2022.
'It is very clear that the petitioner has not approached the Court with clean hands for the purpose of the present application. One who seeks equity must do equity. Granting any interim maintenance to the petitioner would amount to giving benefit of her own wrong to the petitioner,' the court said after hearing the man's submissions.
'In the above said judgments, as relied on by Ld. Counsel for respondent (husband), it was clearly mentioned that the Courts are not there to create an army of unemployed educationally qualified women. The petitioner as per the record brought forth by the respondent seems to be financially sound and capable of making independent source of earning. The petitioner (wife) in no way seems to be in the condition of destitution and vagrancy,' it added.
The husband argued that his wife had 'not deliberately disclosed' the fact that she had done additional courses to enhance her skills and that she had failed to disclose her past working experience. A copy of an income tax return from 2021 to 2022 was also submitted before the Court showing her income to be Rs 1.3 lakhs.
'No reasonable explanation is given throughout the argument as to why the concealments are there in the income affidavit and why the same come on record by the respondent and not by the petitioner,' the court said.
The wife had argued that the information could not be furnished before the court owing to 'human error'.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
42 minutes ago
- Time of India
'15 hotel fire: HC orders BMC to pay 50L each to kin of 8 victims
Mumbai: Nearly a decade after a fire at Hotel City Kinara, Kurla West, claimed 8 lives, Bombay HC Tuesday ordered BMC to pay 50 lakh each compensation to their families, nailing it for gross negligence in discharge of its duties. Justices Burgess Colabawalla and Firdosh Pooniwalla said Kinara was granted an eating housing license without it obtaining any fire NOC from the fire brigade. "This, in our view, was one of the most egregious breaches committed not only by the owner... but also by BMC," they said, adding it was even more shocking that even after BMC became aware of the lack of fire NOC, did not take any action in that regard. They said BMC officials' deliberate inaction and negligence in fulfilling their duties led to loss of lives at Kinara. On Oct 16, 2015 the fire broke out around 1.20pm in the mezzanine. Among the dead were seven students, between 18 and 20years, of Don Bosco Institute of Technology and the eighth, a civil engineer (32). The court heard a 2018 petition by the victims' parents and wife to quash the Lokayukta's Feb 27, 2017 order which dismissed their complaint seeking investigation noting that Rs 1 lakh each compensation is disbursed. The HC quashed the Lokayukta's order. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Giao dịch vàng CFDs với sàn môi giới tin cậy IC Markets Tìm hiểu thêm Undo The judges also said all the victims "had a full working life ahead of them". HC said by initially granting eating house license to Kinara without a FIR NOC and thereafter not taking action when it was discovered that Kinara was operating without a fire NOC, BMC committed gross negligence and acted totally in breach of its statutory duties. Justices Burgess Colabawala and Firdosh Pooniwalla said had BMC "promptly discharged its statutory duties by acting upon the fire safety violations and cancelled Kinara's licence, seized the LPG cylinders and prohibited the use of loft area/mezzanine floor for serving patrons, "the fire would definitely not have occurred. " "The loss of life of the petitioners' children/husband, has resulted in violation of their fundamental right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. Further, as far as the petitioners are concerned, the loss of life of their children/husband has caused immense trauma and agony to the petitioners," said the judges in the verdict. The judges noted in three routine inspections—in Sept 2012, March 2013 and Sept 2015 —BMC found that Kinara was infringing various conditions of its licence. There was no letter from the chief fire officer granting permission to run it. It was using space outside the licensed premises to prepare Chinese food. The mezzanine floor was used for service instead of storage. One Martin Mathews' complaint to Vinoba Bhave police regarding storage of illegal LPG cylinders was forwarded to BMC but assistant commissioner of L ward "did not take the complaint seriously". In response to an RTI query, the fire brigade informed activist Nicholas Almeida that Kinara had no fire NOC. Advocate Godfrey Pimenta learnt from HPCL Kinara was not a registered customer of Laxmi Gas Agency. The judges agreed with senior advocate Naushad Engineer and advocate Jayesh Mistry for the petitioners that a higher standard of care was imposed on BMC to ensure public safety. They disagreed with advocate Anil Sakhare for BMC that there was no proximate cause link to acts of omission and/or commission of municipal officers and the fire and fatalities. The judges set aside the Lokayukta's order saying it failed to consider the Rs 1 lakh compensation each paid by the state govt to the families was only ad-hoc compensation. The judges said all victims "had a full working life ahead of them". Since the students were studying engineering (IT) or mass media and Arvind Kanaujia was employed at Sterling Engineering Consultants, "it would be safe to presume that, during their whole working life, they would earn a good salary". The judges said compensation of at least Rs 30 lakh each would be payable. Considering inflation and interest over 10 years, the compensation payable, in 2025, would be Rs 50 lakh. They directed BMC to pay each petitioner within 12 weeks failing which it "shall carry interest at rate of 9 % per annum...".
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Meghalaya horror: Sonam returned to MP after hubby's murder, met lover, then left for UP, cops say
INDORE/LUCKNOW: Madhya Pradesh police claimed Tuesday Sonam Raghuvanshi had returned to Indore days after her husband's murder in Meghalaya, met her alleged lover in a rented room, and plotted her next move before resurfacing 2,000km away - dazed and dishevelled at a dhaba in eastern UP. Also read: Sonam paid Rs 50k for killers' travel; 2 accused have confessed, say police Sonam, 24, had vanished on May 23 near Wei Sawdong Falls in East Khasi Hills, where she and her husband Raja Raghuvanshi, 28, had travelled on a sudden honeymoon. On June 2, Raja's body was found in a gorge near the falls' parking lot. She remained missing. Her reappearance in Ghazipur on June 9 deepened the mystery. Indore police said she was never abducted as she claimed. "We have information that Sonam reached Indore between May 25 and May 27 by train and stayed in a rented room in Dewas Gate," additional DCP (Crime Branch) Rajesh Dandotiya said. "Raj Kushwaha, her co-accused, met her there. He later arranged a taxi to UP." Sonam trying to mislead sleuths: UP police official Police didn't explain why she was sent to Uttar Pradesh. CCTV footage is being examined to track her route, which investigators said was deliberately confusing. Railway records show she may have taken a train from Guwahati to Patna after May 23-24, dodging flight records and misleading police. A senior UP officer said: 'We have CCTV footage of her getting off a Guwahati-Patna train. The route was chosen to misguide investigators.' The 15-day gap between Raja's death and Sonam's arrest is being described by police as a calculated effort to fabricate a tale of trauma-induced amnesia. At the Ghazipur One-Stop Centre, a govt support shelter, she reportedly slept for seven of her 15 hours there, avoided doctors and police, and repeated: 'Mujhe kuch yaad nahi hai (I don't remember anything).' Her appearance — swollen face, messy hair, quiet demeanour — baffled the staff. 'She looked nothing like a bride. No grief, no mention of husband. Just fatigue and sleepiness,' said a woman officer. According to Indore police, the murder conspiracy was hatched on May 17, six days after the wedding and three days before the trip. Sonam had returned to her parental home on May 15, and reconnected with Raj on another SIM. They spoke for hours on May 16. The next day, Raj allegedly met three childhood friends — Akash Rajput, Vishal Singh Chauhan, and Anand Kurmi — at a restaurant in Indore's Super Corridor, where the killing was planned. The trio left Indore on a train to Guwahati via New Delhi, reached Shillong on May 21, and allegedly shadowed the couple using a rental car. Sonam sent live locations, lured Raja to isolated spots for photos, and waited for the right moment, police alleged. 'They tried to push him off a cliff in a forest first, but it didn't work out,' said an officer in Indore. 'Instead, the attackers used a machete bought in Guwahati and hacked Raja to death in a remote area, as Sonam watched.' Sonam's phone records and messages to Raj contradict her claims of memory loss and captivity, UP police said. Her silence under questioning, indifferent behaviour, and elaborate route back to UP point to a calculated escape rather than trauma, investigators added.
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Cops crack down on unruly motorists, seize 12 bikes
Ranchi: City police have launched an extensive crackdown on unruly motorists after a video of a youth performing dangerous stunts on his two-wheeler on the newly inaugurated Kartik Oraon (Siromtoli) flyover went viral on social media. Md Kasif, the second-year undergraduate student in a city college, who featured in the viral video, though not arrested, was paraded in public and made to appeal to the public to comply with traffic rules on Monday. The bikers, mostly belonging to the age group of 19-23 years, had made commuting a tough task for others on the roads, as they ride two-wheelers at a very high speed, leading to accidents. City police and the Ranchi district transport department have now decided to teach these violators a lesson. Ranchi sadar police, starting the drive against these motorists, seized at least 12 bikes from various locations under the police station area. "The seized bikes were found violating various norms under the Motor Vehicles Act. The riders had modified the rear areas of the bike, where number plates are installed. Removing the number plates makes it easier for them to do stunts. On top of that, most of the bikes do not have number plates on the rear sides; they exist only on the front side. They have also modified the silencers to make loud sounds. Cases have been registered under the MV Act for modifying the vehicles and will be prosecuted by the court," Kuldeep Kumar, in-charge of Sadar police station, told TOI. Ranchi DTO Akhilesh Kumar said that the district transport department has been conducting drives against the unruly motorists. "The transport department has collected information on these motorists, where they perform the stunts and will take strict action against them. As per law, the bikers are fined Rs 5,000 per alteration made on the vehicles. They will be nabbed and lessons on safe driving will be imparted to them, as done to the youth who went viral after performing a bike stunt Siromtoli flyover," Kumar added. Kumar said that Md Kasif, who was nabbed after his stunt video went viral, was fined Rs 5,000 for not having a valid licence, and his two-wheeler has also been seized. Kasif was paraded in public by the police and was made to appeal to the public to comply with the traffic rules. Ranchi DC Manjunath Bhajantri directed district officials to curb any such menace on the flyover and deploy police personnel to curb crowds of selfie-takers posing a risk of accidents with vehicles passing by.
