CUTTACK: If a husband doubts his wife’s chastity without proof, she is “perfectly justified” to live separately and is also entitled to maintenance, Orissa high court ruled recently.
Justice Gourishankar Satapathy noted this while upholding a Baripada family court order directing a man to payRs 3,000 monthly maintenance to his estranged wife. The husband had moved HC challenging the family court order.
The couple had wed on May 5, 2021, but the wife left her marital home on Aug 28, 2021, allegedly because her husband raised doubts about her character. Claiming that his wife wasn’t entitled to maintenance as she had left him without sufficient cause, the petitioner (husband) questioned her chastity while alleging that she was in a relationship with another individual.
While noting that the chastity of a woman is not only dearest to her but also her priceless possession, Justice Satapathy stated in his Jan 9 order: “When her husband raises doubt about her character, she is perfectly justified to refuse to live with her husband. In this case, without producing any proof about the infidelity of his wife, the husband has simply made character assassination of his wife, which itself is a ground for the wife to refuse to live with her husband.” While rejecting the man’s petition, HC said: “The plea of the husband in this case about the wife not staying with him without any sufficient cause is liable to be rejected and merits no consideration.”