The Karnataka High Court said that a wife cannot claim compensation from his husband who is living in adultery. The question of claiming doesn’t arise if the wife is living in an adulterous relationship, a bench of Justice Rajendra Badamikar said.
Section 497 IPC states that Adultery – Whoever has an extra marital relationship with a person who believes to be the wife of another man, without the consent of that man, such relationship is guilty of the offence of adultery.
The magistrate court had granted her maintenance under section 12 under protection of women from domestic violation act along with the compensation which was dismissed by the sessions court of Chikkamagaluru. The magistrate court has awarded maintenance of Rs 1,000 towards rent allowances and Rs 5000 towards compensation which was quashed by the sessions court. Then the petition was filed by the wife for claiming protection order, residential order and monetary benefit.
The wife claimed before the High Court that she is the legally wedded wife and is entitled to claim maintenance along with this she claimed the husband is also having an illicit relationship though which amounts to domestic violence which should be inferred in this case. The husband claimed that the competent court had already dissolved the marriage on the ground of adultery and cruelty.
“The oral and documentary evidence produced before the court establishes that the wife is not honest towards her husband and she has got extra marital affairs with the neighbour. When the petitioner is also staying in adultery, the question of her claiming maintenance does not arise at all,” the court said
Also, on the allegation of the illicit relationship of the husband the court said that the petitioner wife must prove that she is innocent and must come to court with clean hands. She cannot claim maintenance on this ground if she is herself indulged in an extra marital relationship.
Written by- Chaitanya Sri Krishna
College name- IMS Unison University, Dehradun
Semester- 5th
Intern under Legal Vidhya
