Proceedings under Section 125 of the Cr.P.C. are criminal in nature, and the technicalities of construing civil pleadings are not attracted to an application for maintenance under Section 125.

S.S.SANDHAWALIA, J.

1. Whe-ther the technicalities of construing civil pleadings are equally attracted to an application for maintenance by a wife under Section 125 of the Criminal P.C. 1973 is the significant question which has necessitated this reference.

2. For the limited purpose of adjudi-cating on the aforesaid issue it suffices to mention that the respondent-wife had claimed maintenance at the rate of Rs. 200.00 per mensem under Section 125 of the Code. Her application was dis-missed by the Judicial Magistrate, Ist class, primarily on the ground that the parties were living separately by mutual consent. On a revision preferred by the respondent-wife the Sessions Judge, Bhatinda, reversed the judgment and granted maintenance at the rate of Rs. 50.00 per mensem only. He also spe-cifically rejected the plea on behalf of the husband that because the wife had not expressly pleaded in her application that she was unable to maintain herself, this by itself would be fatal to her claim. Both the spouses have come up against the aforesaid order of revision which was first placed before my learn-ed brother Tewatia, J. Noticing the significance of the question whether in the petition under Section 125 it was incumbent on the wife to plead that she was unable to maintain herself and some conflict of judicial opinion in the other High Courts on the said point the matter was referred for an authoritative deci-sion.

3. As a matter of legislative history it may be noticed that Section 125 of the Code is the successor provision of Section 488 of Cr.P.C. of 1898. In the new Code this section along with the connected ones has been recast and ra-tionalised and now incorporated in the self-contained Chapter IX thereof. As the heading plainly indicates it provides in a consolidated form for the main-tenance of wives, children and parents. The detailed provisions contained in the five sub-sections of Section 125 spell out both the right and the pre-requisites for an order of maintenance. The suc-ceeding Sec.126 lays down the proce-dure to be followed in these proceedings including the mandate that the evidence therein shall be recorded in the manner prescribed for a summon case. Section 127 then provides for any alteration in the maintenance allowance ordered ear-lier on a proof of change in the circum-stances whilst the last Sec.128 in the Chapter empowers any Magistrate to enforce an order of maintenance at any place where the person against whom it is made, may be.

4. Now a larger conspectus of the four sections contained in Chapter IX would leave no manner of doubt that these provide a self-contained Code for the right, procedure, grant, alteration, and execution, of an order of main-tenance. Sub-section(2) of Section 126 provides that evidence under this Chap-ter has to be taken in the presence of the person against whom an order is claimed and is to be recorded in the manner prescribed for summons-cases. This in itself is an indication that the proceedings are criminal proceedings and not civil proceedings. Attention is also called to sub-section(3) of Section 125 which provides for the execution of an order of maintenance by issuing a war-rant for levying the amount due in the manner provided for levying fines and further empowers the Magistrate to sentence such a person for the whole or any part of each months allowance re-maining unpaid. The forum for the adjudication of an order of maintenance is prescribed to be that of a Court of magistrate first class. The power of re-vision against the same would lie with the Court of session under Section 399. Equally, the High Courts power of re-vision thereof would be derived from Section 401 of the Code.

5. Within this jurisdiction the matter seems to be further reinforced by the provisions of Rule 1 in Chapter 7-A of the Rules and Orders of the Punjab High Court Vol. III dealing with the main-tenance cases. Therein it has been pro-vided in terms as follows:-

"Proceedings under Sectio