The Family Court must enforce maintenance orders under Section 125(3) by sentencing the respondent to imprisonment for non-payment, ensuring compliance with legal standards for recovery.

JUDGMENT

[1] Case is taken up for final disposal in presence of Mr.R.G.Chakraborty, counsel appearing for the petitioner and Mr.S.Datta, counsel appearing for the private respondent as well as Mr.Ratan Datta, learned PP representing the State respondent.

[2] The factual back ground of the case is as under:

Petitioner Amita Das is the wife of the private respondent whose marriage was solemnized on 12.06.1979 in accordance with the rites of Hindu marriage and after marriage the petitioner accompanied her husband to his place where they lived together for about 2 years in a rented house at Dhaleswar, Agartala. All on a sudden, the respondent husband of the petitioner disappeared. After about 01 month, he returned to the petitioner and they lived in the same rented house at Dhaleswar for a period of 6 months. He again deserted the petitioner after 6 months. He returned home after about 3 ½ years and met the petitioner at her parental home when he assured her that he would never leave her again. They rented a house at Indranagar and stayed together at that house for about 15 months. During that period of their staying together, a son was born to them. 03 months after the birth of the son, the respondent again deserted his wife. Hapless petitioner started working in a press to earn her livelihood. 14 years thereafter, her husband returned and stayed together with the petitioner for about 7 days at her parental home. Again he left the petitioner for Guwahati. Subsequently, he had taken his petitioner wife to Guwahati where they lived together in different rented houses at different places for about 3 years, before the respondent left the petitioner again. Then the petitioner came to know about the reason of frequent disappearance of her husband. She came to know that her husband contracted a second marriage at Guwahati who was living in Guwahati. After she came to know about the second marriage of her husband, matrimonial discord developed between them. Ultimately, the petitioner was compelled to leave Guwahati. Having returned to Agartala, she filed petitioner under Section 125 Cr.P.C claiming maintenance allowance from her husband which was registered in the Family Court at Agartala as case No.Misc.157 of 2011. By judgment and order dated 13.06.2014, petitioner was granted monthly maintenance allowance of Rs.3,000/-.

[3] The respondent husband having failed to pay the maintenance allowance so granted to the petitioner by the Family Court, she approached the Family Court seeking enforcement of the order in terms of Section 125 (3) Cr.P.C. Her case was registered in the Family Court as Case No. Misc 341 of 2014.

[4] Learned Family Court found that a sum of Rs.66,000/- fell due to the petitioner as arrear of such maintenance allowance. By an order dated 09.08.2019 passed in the aforesaid Misc. case No.341 of 2014, the Family Court proceeded to recover the arrear by issuing an warrant to the jurisdictional Sub-divisional Judicial Magistrate for the levy of the amount by attachment and sale of the property of the respondent. Thereafter, in view of the report submitted by the jurisdictional Sub-Divisional Magistrate(SDM), the Family Court by the impugned order dated 31.08.2019 dismissed her petition for recovery of the arrear maintenance allowance holding as under:

“Petitioner is present.

Received the report of SDM, Sadar. On perusal of the report dated 20.08.2019 submitted by SDM, Sadar shows that the OP has already leased out land of Khatian No.1785 in the name of younger brother Swapan Das. Hence, such property cannot be attached.

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