Kochi: The Kerala High Court has held that husband refusing to pay maintenance saying that wife has changed her religious faith is not justified. Justice K Harilal issued the order on a petition filed by Biju Thomas, challenging an order of the Irinjalakkuda Family Court directing him to pay maintenance allowance to his wife and children.
The petitioner has not been paying maintenance to his wife and children since 2010. The dispute is that the wife renounced Catholic faith to join another church – Emperor Immanuel Church.
According to the petitioner, if she is ready to renounce Immanuel Church and to come back to the old faith, he would pay the maintenance allowance ordered by the Family Court.
The petitioner, who is an autorikshaw driver by profession, also submitted that the quantum of maintenance determined by the Family Court was disproportionate to his income.
The court observed that renouncing religion may be a ground for dissolution of marriage. Even if the wife renounces her religion, it is not a ground to deny her right to maintenance, New Indian Express reported.
The court asked Biju Thomas to pay maintenance to his wife and children, including arrears, within six months. “The right to get maintenance allowance is neither conditional nor a concession on the part of husband. It is a statutory liability that continues uninterruptedly, unless and until the wife attains the ability to maintain herself or her claim fails under any of the grounds.” the court observed.
The court held that it was only a change from one fraction to another fraction of Christianity, which could be treated as a grave or irreconcilable marital discordance enabling the husband to be exempted from discharging his statutory liability to pay maintenance. The court held that there was no illegality in the finding of the Family Court that the wife and children were entitled to get maintenance allowance from the petitioner.