Aditi Pandey, BBA.LLB, School of Law, Alliance University
ABSTRACT
The concept of maintenance under Muslim personal law is known as ‘Nafqah’ and it is the total amount a man spends on his family. It includes giving enough money so that the three essential elements of life i.e. food, clothing and shelter are provided and taken care of. In the essence, the wife has a right to have a dignified life and even after the marriage is dissolved the husband is bound give maintenance so that there is some means of livelihood and the wife is able to live in a dignified manner. This right is absolute and unconditional, where the financial position of the husband is not taken into consideration and even if the wife is of another religion or is able to maintain herself or there was no prior agreement between them regarding this, she is still able to claim for maintenance. Right to be maintained does waver off if the marriage itself is void (minor), wife abandons the husband and denounces marital life and duties without any reasonable justification, reasonable commands of the husband are not obeyed or she elopes with a new man.
It is up to the discretion if the court to decide the exact amount of maintenance which must be given and the wife is able to approach the court through Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure or the provisions of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986. The position of maintenance of Muslim has changed over the years and paper aims to do an analysis of a landmark case known as Danial Latifi vs. Union of India1, whose judgement has laid down the basic foundation of providing maintenance to the women in case of divorce.
