The term "wife" under Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure should be interpreted broadly to include women who are accepted as wives by their partners, even if there is no formal marriage ceremony.

1. Shrimati Siddheswari was in her early 20s when she was allured and mesmerised by the petitioner Boli Narayan Pawye, a young man studying Law perhaps vibrant with noble ideas to uplift the cause of the poor and down trodden and to safeguard and protect the weaker Section like woman, children infirm and old. Could he practice the noble ideals in his private life ? The parties belong to the Mishing Tribe. The Tribe belongs to "the other Backward Classes" as the members are economically and socially backward. However, they have values for superior to the "Forward Classes"; they live with nature, thrive in hills and valleys, generous as mountains, simple as the morning dew and have colourful cultural background. They have their own life-style and though they seem to accept or profess Hinduism, they have their faith or religion distinct and different, simple and precise to meet their needs. Economic poverty does not permit solemnisation of marriages in a big way. For solemnisation of marriages no sacred fire, no Saptapadi or Mantras are needed, not is the requirement of a Brahmin to perform the intricate ceremonies. A small feast, a pig for gastronomy, bowing down by the couple before a few village-elders are enough to solemnise a valid marriage in a large scale'. However, most of them are poor who cannot afford the luxurious marriages and they follow the traditional solemnisation in the form akin to "Gandharva Vivaha" known in Hindu Law, which is a system styled by them as "Dugla-Lanam". The couple fell in love, eloped to return back as man and wife to live over happily. The love letters of Bali Narayan, proved in the case, bear the testimony of passion, fondness and amour of the parties. They eloped is the common case of the parties. She bore a child, lived for a couple of weeks in the house of her father-in-law, and thrown out after barbaric torture are established by oral as well as documentary evidence. The village-elders pressed her 'in-laws' and husband to take her back and to celebrate the ceremonies; they promised but honoured by rejecting it. She gave birth to a girl child. Neglected by the petitioner and the members of his family and thrown out as a derelict, she took the ultimate resort and demanded due, maintenance for herself and her child, in the Court of Law. She claimed that the petitioner had sufficient means to maintain them but had neglected to perform his moral, legal and constitutional duties. The love-lorn petitioner who could die for Sidheswari turned turtle and contested the proceedings tooth and nail and disowned everything. The parties adduced evidence, the learned Magistrate by an elaborate and reasoned judgement held that there was a valid marriage between the parties, the child was their offspring and awarded maintenance of Rs. 150/- p. m. to Siddeshwari and Rs. 150/- per month to the baby. The findings have the backing of law, logic, lucidity and legal testimony. The unbiased and neutral determination was unacceptable to the petitioner who asked for "gender justice" in this Court and in the process dragged the destitute herein. The derelict petitioned in desperation, voiced her pathos, expressed her hapless condition and apprised the Court her inability to defend her case by engaging a counsel. At the request of the Court Mr. K.K. Bezbarua, a Senior Advocate of this Court, agreed to argue the case as amicus curiae. Mr. Bezbarua has very ably argued the case, placed before the Court the nature and character of the system of marriage amongst the Mishings and the objects and reasons for introducing the provisions for maintenance in the Code of Criminal Procedure and referred a few decisions in point.

2. The main trust of the petitioner is that as there was no valid marriage between the parties. Shiddheswari is not the wife of the petitioner. At the highest, she may be termed as "a woman" who came in the life of the petitioner as a lightning and vanished into the clouds. Strict proof of marriage