JUDGMENT :

Krishna Iyer, J.

In this appeal, by special leave, we are called upon to interpret a benign provision enacted to ameliorate the economic condition of neglected wives and discarded divorcees, namely, Section 125, Criminal Procedure Code. Welfare laws must be so read as to be effective delivery systems of the salutary objects sought to be served by the Legislature and when the beneficiaries are the weaker sections, like destitute women, the spirit of Article 15(3) of the Constitution must belight the meaning of the Section. The Constitution is a pervasive omni-presence brooding over the meaning and transforming the values of every measure. So Section 125 and sister clauses must receive a compassionate expansion of sense that the words used permit.

The Brief Facts :

2. The respondent (husband) married the appellant (wife) as a second wife, way back in 1956, and a few years later had a son by her. The initial warmth vanished and the jealousies of a triangular situation erupted, marring mutual affection. The respondent divorced the appellant around July 1962. A suit relating to a flat in which the husband had housed the wife resulted in a consent decree which also settled the mar