New Delhi. The Patna High Court has given an important verdict while hearing a divorce case. The High Court judge has said that even after divorce, the woman can demand maintenance from her ex-husband, and it is her right. The court also clarified in its order that the process of fixing permanent maintenance without assessing income and property by the Family Court is against the law. Ruhi Sharma vs. Vinay Kumar Sharma, the Patna High Court gave this decision in the case related to the divorce petition. In this case, the Family Court of Bhagalpur had fixed a permanent maintenance amount of Rs 15 lakh with divorce.
The woman’s husband Vinay Kumar Sharma filed an appeal in the Patna High Court against the decision of the Bhagalpur Family Court. According to the information given in the court, Vinay Kumar Sharma was married to Ruhi on 29 January 2016. It is alleged that the woman was physically and mentally harassed after marriage. He was pressurized to ask his family members for dowry. The woman also alleged that the husband forcibly had unnatural sex with her. Fed up with this type of physical and mental harassment, Ruhi left her in -laws on 13 June 2016 and came to her maternal home. She then filed a criminal case against her husband Vinay.
The family court accepted the divorce, considering it a case of cruelty. At the same time, the husband was ordered to pay a permanent maintenance amount of Rs 15 lakh. Now the bench of High Court Judge PB Bajanthri and Judge SBP Singh has sent the matter back to the Family Court, Bhagalpur to re-determine the maintenance amount. The High Court has directed the Family Court to complete the process within three months.
