Full Judgment
Navin Chandra Sharma, J.
1. I have heard the learned Counsel for the petitioner in this revision. Learned Counsel for the non-petitioner is absent.
2. Petitioner Smt. Sarla was married to the non-petitioner Mahendra Kumar on Fagun Budi 9, Samvat 2026 corresponding to 2nd March, 1970 at Nagore. Both of them lived under the same roof for two and half years as husband and wife. It was alleged by the petitioner that thereafter she was beaten by the husband for six days and turned out from the house. Her father managed to send her back to her husband's house, but she was again turned out on Miti Ashadh 12, Samvat 2029. Non-petitioner went to Assam and never called her back. It was also alleged that non-petitioner had remarried with a girl of village Mankiyachar on 17th July, 1975. Non-petitioner was not maintaining the petitioner. She, therefore, claimed maintenance under Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
3. Non-petitioner 3, Mahendra Kumar admitted that he was married with Smt. Sarla on 2nd March, 1970 and that he lived with her for two and half years. It was stated by him that his wife herself stopped living with him. He denied remarriage. He also alleged that Smt. Sarala imparts training in stiching and embroidery and earns about Rs. 600/- per month. The husband further stated that Smt. Sarla began to quarrel and used to compel him to live separately from his parents. He agreed to that also and remained tenant of Chainmal Prakashmal Bothra four months after the marriage. When the non-petitioner was out in Assam, Smt. Sarla developed intimacy and illicit relations with Ram Narain Compounder and started leading adulterous life with him. She being an unchaste lady was not entitled to maintenance. The trial Court held that the petitioner had failed to establish that she had no sufficient means to maintain herself. The trial Court also held that the husband was ready to keep Smt. Sarla with him but as she had developed illicit relations with Ram Narain Compounder, he could not succeed in persuading Smt. Sarla to live with him. It was believed that Smt. Sarla was teaching stiching and embroidery work and was able to maintain herself. On the basis of these findings the Judicial Magistrate, Nagaur dismissed the petition filed by Smt. Sarla.
4. I have gone through evidence also. It is clear from the evidence of the husband that some time after marriage he went away to Assam from Nagaur and was doing some service there. He left his wife Smt. Sarla at Nagore for about two years soon after the marriage. It is not unnatural that when a husband leaves his newly wedded wife alone and himself goes away at a distant place to earn his livelihood, a lady, who is suffering sexual deprivation, may develop intimacy as well as illicit relations with a stranger. That is what appears to have actually happened. At the relevant time the husband and wife were living in a rented house of Chainmal Prakashmal Bothra after separating from the parents of the husband. The husband went away to Assam to earn his livelihood. There was one more tenant named Ram Narain Compounder who was residing in that house, Smt. Sarla developed intimacy and even illicit relations with Ram Narain Compounder. When the husband returned from Assam, he came to know of it. There should have arisen a serious antagonism in the mind of the husband against the wife which is quite natural in a man-dominated society. The indignation went to this extent that the husband compelled his wife to give a true and faithful statement of what had happened when he was in Assam by giving her the hope that in case she gave a faithful statement, she will be excused/The wife Smt. Sarla under the belief that there was no way out before her except to admit all her commissions during the period the husband was in Assam, wrote a detailed admission Ex. D/1 in which she admitted her illicit relations and the manner in which they developed with Ram Narain Compounder. The ego and vendetta of the husband was not satisfied even by that and he got two more writings Ex. D/3 executed from the wife and addressed to the father of Smt. Sarla. Having obtained these documents from Smt. Sarla in his possession, the husband occupied a still more dominant position and could very well and did turn her out of the house. That is what which has compelled Smt. Sarla to live in her parents house. There is evidence that the husband after going to Assam remarried and there is no reason to disbelieve that evidence. It has not been satisfactorily established that the wife has sufficient means to maintain herself. Vijay Chand witness examined by the husband states that he had taken a receipt of Usha sewing machine got purchased for Smt. Sarla but no such receipt has been produced. He has also said that his younger sister got some garments stiched from Smt. Sarla but younger sister has not been examined. The Judicial Magistrate was utterly wrong in holding that Smt. Sarla had sufficient means. It is clear from Explanation to Section 125(3) Cr. P.C. that if a husband has contracted a marriage with another woman, it shall be considered to be just ground for his wife's refusal to live with him. If Smt. Sarla developed intimacy and even sexual relations with Ram Narain Compounder while the husband was at Assam, the husband has more to be blamed than the wife. In any event, if cannot be said by wife's intimacy with a single person that the wife was living in adultery.
5. I hold that Smt. Sarla was entitled to get maintenance under Section 125 Cr. P.C.
6. I allow this revision, set aside the judgment of the Judicial Magistrate, Nagour and award Rs. 125/- per month as maintenance to Smt. Sarla from the date on which this revision petition was filed on 30th June, 1980.