Man directed to pay Rs 43K interim maintenance to wife, son

A Delhi court has directed a man to pay over Rs 43,000 interim maintenance every month to his estranged wife and minor son, who are living separately from him.
The sessions court dismissed the man's appeal and upheld the order of a magisterial court which had directed the man to pay Rs 43,200 per month to the woman and their 14-year-old son. The money includes the child's school fees and other expenses.
"I do not find any illegality or irregularity in the order passed by the trial court. The appeal is dismissed being devoid of any merit," Additional Sessions Judge Sanjeev Kumar Malhotra said.

The woman, a resident of East Delhi, and the man, who was residing in Gurgaon, had married in 2002 and a baby boy was born to them in 2003. The woman's complaint said that the couple lived together from 2002 to 2015.
The woman in her complaint alleged that the man started torturing her and treated her cruelly and turned her out of her matrimonial house in March 2015. Thereafter, she filed a complaint under the Act against domestic violence.
The sessions court noted that the trial court had called a domestic incident report which prima facie showed that domestic violence was committed upon the woman.

It also noted that while the woman claimed that the man was earning Rs two lakh per month, the trial court had accepted his take home salary as Rs 72,000 per month.

As per the woman's affidavit, she has studied till class 12 and has no professional qualification or income.
The man had challenged the trial court's interim order saying it was passed without considering the affidavits filed by him and without taking into consideration that his wife was an educated woman and was capable to earn.
The woman, however, submitted that there was no illegality in the trial court's order and that the maintenance amount also includes her son's school expenses which were on a higher side.