The Lucknow Bench of the High Court, while giving an important decision in favor of Muslim women, has said that divorced Muslim women also have the right to get maintenance from their husband under Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. They can get it even after the period of iddat. The court also made it clear in its judgment that divorced women have this right only until they remarry.
The decision was passed by a single bench of Justice Karunesh Singh Pawar on Razia’s criminal revision petition. In this petition filed in the year 2008, the order of a sessions court in Pratapgarh was challenged. The Sessions Court, while reversing the lower court’s decision, said that after the introduction of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, the case of the petitioner and her husband would be subject to this Act.
The Sessions Court said that under Sections 3 and 4 of the said Act, a Muslim divorced wife is entitled to maintenance. Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure does not apply in such cases. The High Court, while setting aside the decision of the Sessions Court, said that after the decision of the Supreme Court in the Shah Bano case, it has been decided that a Muslim divorced woman is entitled to maintenance under section 125 even after the period of iddat. Until she remarries.