Delhi High Court: Granting Interim Maintenance to Qualified Unemployed Wife Does Not Promote Idleness

In the present case, a revision petition was filed under Section 438 read with Section 442 of the Bhartiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (‘BNSS’) and Section 397 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (‘CrPC’) by the petitioner-husband. He challenged the order dated 9-5-2025 of the Family Court, New Delhi (‘the Trial Court’), which granted ad-interim maintenance of Rs 1,00,000/- per month to the respondent-wife.

A Single Judge Bench of Neena Bansal Krishna, J., observed that raising objections at this stage to the grant of maintenance despite the wife’s earning capacity, and stating that it would be like breeding a class of idle women dependent on their husband, was premature and unwarranted.

The Court stated that the order dated 9-5-2025 was only ad-interim in nature, meant to provide immediate relief until the interim maintenance application was finally decided.

Consequently, the Court dismissed the petition as devoid of merits and clarified that both parties were at liberty to make contentions before the Trial Court during the consideration of the interim maintenance application.

[Gurpratap Singh v. Aashna Kaur, Crl. Rev. P.(MAT.) 266 of 2025]