In a decision, one which can be termed as a game changing revolutionary take, Delhi District Judge Rekha Rani instructed a woman seeking an alimony of Rs 12000 (approximately $180) from her estranged husband, to find a job instead. When the man was told to pay maintenance/compensation every month, he challenged the trial court order on the grounds that his wife was more qualified than he was (she being a gold medallist in a Master of Sciences program).
He also persisted that she was able bodied, and could easily be employed. He also alleged that his wife had not applied for a job anywhere and only wanted to sit idle and be a constant financial burden to him.
She had countered stating that she did not posses any work experience whatsoever and would have trouble finding any sort of job in her current situation. However, when she mentioned that she had never travelled alone and wanted her husband to travel with her and help her find a job, the court found it “neither palatable nor digestible.”
The judge held that if she could come to court to fight a litigation alone, she was capable of finding a job as well.
• The status and position of the husband (purely from a financial position and not a social position), his income, assets, and lifestyle;
• The reasonable wants of a wife (including the necessities of the child’s present and future requirements, if a child is involved);
• The wife’s own income and earnings.
Hopefully this decision, which upheld the spirit of equality in the truest sense of the word, will bring about a change in a judiciary mechanism for ages to come.
( Source : Bodahub )
