When second wife is entitled to get maintenance?

Supreme Court: Endowing purposive interpretation to Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973, the Court held that where a man marriages second time by keeping that lady in dark about the first surviving marriage, such lady will be treated to be a legally wedded wife of the man for the purpose of claiming maintenance as if this interpretation is not accepted, it would amount to giving a premium to the husband for defrauding the wife. Stating that the husband cannot take advantage of his own wrong by saying that such second wife cannot claim
maintenance under Section 125 of Cr.P.C. as she is not his “legally wedded wife”, the Court held that while dealing with the application of destitute wife or hapless children or parents under the said provision, the Court is dealing with the marginalized sections of the society and hence, it is the bounden duty of the Courts to advance the cause of the social justice. The 2-judge bench of Hon’ble Ranjana Prakash Desai and A.K. Sikri, JJ, relying upon various judgments, held that though such marriages are illegal as per the law, they are not ‘immoral’ and hence a financially dependent woman cannot be denied maintenance on this ground. [Badshah v. Sou.Urmila Badshah Godse, Criminal Misc. Petition No.19530/2013, decided on October 18, 2013]

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