MP High Court: Concealment of Religious Identity Cannot Defeat Woman's Maintenance Claim

The Madhya Pradesh High Court has held that a woman allegedly deceived into marriage through the concealment of a man's religious identity cannot be denied maintenance merely because the marriage may later be considered legally invalid. The Court observed that refusing maintenance in such circumstances would further victimize a woman who had already suffered deception and hardship.

Justice Gajendra Singh delivered the ruling while allowing a criminal revision petition filed by a woman and her minor daughter against a Family Court order that had rejected the woman's maintenance claim while awarding only ₹2,000 per month to the child. The petitioner alleged that the respondent married her by falsely presenting himself as a Hindu, concealing his identity as Mustafa from the Bohra community. She further claimed that after discovering the truth, she was subjected to cruelty, pressured to convert her religion, and eventually abandoned. A daughter was born from the relationship.

The High Court held that where marriage ceremonies had been performed and a child was born, the woman's claim for maintenance could not be rejected solely on the ground that the marriage lacked legal validity. The Court noted that such an approach would only deepen the injustice already suffered by the petitioner.

Considering the respondent's conduct and the cost of living in Indore, the Court awarded the woman maintenance of ₹10,000 per month and enhanced the daughter's maintenance from ₹2,000 to ₹10,000 per month, effective from the date of filing the maintenance application.