Bai Tahira A vs Ali Hussain Fissalli Chothia And Anr on 6 October, 1978
7. There is no dispute regarding the position that the right of a wife for maintenance is an incidence of the status or estate of matrimony, that according to the test of Hindu Law to which the parties belong, the obligation to maintain the wife arises from the very existence of the relationship between the parlies and that apart from the liability which the husband incurs under personal law of maintaining his wife, the provisions of Section 125, Cr.P.C. independently vest the statutory right in a wife to claim maintenance from her husband see (1986) 62 CLT 92 (Saraswati Meher v. Jadumani Meher) and that a divorced wife otherwise eligible, is entitled to the benefit of maintenance allowance and the dissolution of the marriage makes no difference to this right under Section 125(1), Cr.P.C. see AIR 1979 SC 362 : (1979 Cri LJ 151) (Bai Tahira v. Ali Hussain Fissali Chothia and another). It is also not disputed that no wife shall be entitled to receive maintenance from her husband under Section 125, Cr.P.C. if she refuses to live with her husband without any sufficient reason which principle is incorporated in Sub-section (4) of Section 125....