A wife is entitled to maintenance from her husband under the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act despite his claims of unemployment, emphasizing the legal obligation to support her and children adequately.

ORDER :

K. GOVINDARAJAN THILAKAVADI, J.

The present Civil Revision Petition has been filed against the order dated 16.10.2023 passed in I.A.No.1 of 2021 in O.S.No.431 of 2021, on the file of the I Additional District Court (PCR), Tiruchirappalli.

2. The facts of the case are that the respondents are the plaintiffs and the revision petitioner is the defendant in the above suit in O.S.No. 431 of 2021; that the first respondent/first plaintiff is the wife of the revision petitioner/defendant and the second and third plaintiffs/second and third respondents are their children [hereinafter, the parties are referred to as plaintiffs and the defendant]; and the case of the plaintiffs in the suit is as follows:-

i. i. The marriage was solemnized between the first plaintiff and the defendant on 10.11.2008 at Trichy, as per Hindu rites and customs.

ii. At the time of the marriage, both the first plaintiff/wife and the defendant/husband were employed.

iii.After the marriage, they resided in Chennai.

iv. Out of their wedlock, two female children were born to them.

v. The first plaintiff/wife was subjected to harassment by the defendant/husband and his family members.

vi. The defendant/husband had illicit intimacy with another woman, and when the first plaintiff/wife questioned him about it, he pacified her, assuring that he would not engage in such behavior again.

vii. Thereafter, the first plaintiff/wife and the defendant/husband went to USA for their employment.

viii. However, the defendant's illicit relationship with the said woman continued. When the first plaintiff/wife confronted him again, the defendant/husband quarreled with her.

ix. While they were in USA, the second child was born. By birth, the child was diagnosed with heart disease and was medically advised by doctors in USA to undergo surgery.

x. Due to the quarrel between the first plaintiff/wife and the defendant/husband, the first plaintiff/wife was compelled to return to India with the children.

xi. The surgery was performed in 2019, incurring medical expenses amounting to Rs.5,00,000/-. The defendant/husband failed to pay the said amount, and the entire sum was paid by the first plaintiff/wife, who borrowed the money from her sister, which was later repaid.

xii. After the child's surgery, the defendant/husband returned to USA for work, while the plaintiffs remained in Chennai.

xiii. When the defendant/husband returned to India during the Covid-19 period, his behavior worsened, and he developed illicit relationships with other women. The defendant/husband failed to take care of the plaintiffs.

xiv. As a result, the relationship between the first plaintiff/wife and the defendant/husband became strained.

xv. The plaintiffs began living separately in Trichy from May 2021.

xvi. The defendant/husband failed to meet the expenses for the education and medical needs of the children.

xvii. Since the relationship between the first plaintiff/wife and the defendant/husband had irretrievably broken down, the first plaintiff/wife was compelled to file a divorce petition before the Sub Court, Kulithalai in H.M.O.P. No. 66 of 2021. She also filed a petition under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, in D.V.C. No. 7 of 2021 before the Judicial Magistrate Court No. II, Kulithalai.

xviii. Apprehending action in the above proceedings, the defendant/husband started to send a sum of Rs. 30,000/-per month to the plaintiffs from July 2021.

xix. In order to harass the first plaintiff/wife, the defendant/husband filed a petition in H.M.O.P. No. 79 of 20