Madras High Court rules women having sexual relations post divorce cannot have alimony

Divorcee too needs to maintain discipline, says judge

In a recent judgement, Justice S Nagamuthu of the Madras High Court has ruled that women seeking alimony should “maintain discipline as she was expected to maintain during the subsistence of her marriage”, suggesting that having sexual relationship with another man after divorce would jeopardise her chances of getting alimony.

According to a report in The Hindu, Justice Nagamuthu ruled that a divorced women would lose all claims to maintenance if she commits any breach of the sexual obligation she had before the dissolution of her marriage. Invoking Section 125(4) of the CrPC, the judge pointed out that, legally, an adulterous wife cannot claim maintenance from her estranged husband and said that the law would apply in the case of a divorcee too.

“Since a man carries an obligation to maintain his divorced wife, the woman also carries the obligation not to live in relationship with another man. If she commits breach… she will suffer disqualification from claiming maintenance… If she wants to live in relationship with another man, she may be entitled for maintenance from him and not from the former husband,” he was reported as saying .

The ruling came while the bench was allowing a criminal revision case challenging a sessions court order that directed the husband to pay maintenance after he divorced his wife on grounds of adultery.

The New Indian Express also quoted advocate Sudha Ramalingam saying that the obligation for maintenance is based on the principle that the divorced woman needs economic support to sustain herself and this principle should be the primary criterion to decide on alimony.

“It may be agreeable that if a woman enters into another permanent relationship, she need not be provided alimony. But coupling that with chastity and morality is unwarranted,” she said.