Case Note & Summary
The petitioner, Sangita Daspute, wife of Rameshwar Daspute, filed a criminal revision application before the Bombay High Court at Aurangabad, aggrieved by the order of the Family Court under Section 127 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Cr.P.C.). The Family Court had enhanced the maintenance amount from Rs.1200 per month to Rs.2000 per month, which the wife considered inadequate. She also challenged the direction making the enhancement effective from the date of the order rather than from the date of her application. The wife argued that the respondent husband had not disclosed his true income despite opportunities, and that evidence such as revenue records of agricultural land, a visiting card showing him as an estate agent, and a photograph indicating property ownership demonstrated his substantial income. The Family Court had noted these facts and drawn an adverse inference against the husband but still granted only a meager increase of Rs.800 per month. The wife contended that the enhancement was perverse and arbitrary. The husband's counsel submitted that the Family Court had considered all evidence and arrived at a just figure. The High Court, after hearing both sides, found that the Family Court's enhancement was indeed inadequate given the husband's income potential and the adverse inference drawn. The Court also noted that the Family Court had not assigned any reasons for making the enhancement effective from the date of the order, contrary to the requirement under Section 125(2) Cr.P.C. that maintenance should ordinarily be awarded from the date of application unless reasons are recorded. Consequently, the High Court allowed the revision, enhancing the maintenance to Rs.4000 per month and directing that the enhanced amount be payable from the date of the application filed by the wife.
Headnote
A) Criminal Procedure Code - Maintenance Enhancement - Section 127 Cr.P.C. - Inadequacy of Increment - Wife challenged enhancement of maintenance from Rs.1200 to Rs.2000 per month as inadequate given husband's income from property dealings and agricultural land - Court held that enhancement was meager and perverse, warranting revision - Held that maintenance should be enhanced to Rs.4000 per month (Paras 2-6). B) Criminal Procedure Code - Effective Date of Maintenance - Section 125(2) Cr.P.C. - Family Court directed enhancement from date of order without assigning reasons - Court held that under Section 125(2), maintenance should ordinarily be from date of application unless reasons recorded - Held that enhancement should be effective from date of application (Paras 4, 6).
Issue of Consideration
Whether the Family Court's enhancement of maintenance from Rs.1200 to Rs.2000 per month was inadequate and whether it should have been made effective from the date of application instead of the date of order.
Final Decision
Revision allowed. Maintenance enhanced from Rs.2000 to Rs.4000 per month. Enhanced amount payable from the date of application filed by the wife.
Law Points
- Maintenance enhancement under Section 127 Cr.P.C.
- effective date of maintenance order under Section 125(2) Cr.P.C.
- adverse inference for non-disclosure of income
- revisional jurisdiction for perversity
