The Karnataka High Court recently said that the Quran and Hadith say that it is the duty of the husband to look after his wife & children especially when they are in disablement.

The court said so while rejecting a petition filed by a Muslim man against a family court order whereby he had been directed to pay Rs.25,000 per month to his estranged wife and two children. One child of the couple was handicapped and the other was suffering from kidney disease.

The court refused to indulge in the matter while noting that the submission made by the husband’s counsel that he did not have sufficient means to pay maintenance was difficult to countenance.

“Even otherwise the principal duty lies on the shoulders of the petitioner. The vehement submission of learned counsel for the Petitioner that the amount is too much on the higher side, does not merit acceptance in these costly days when bread is costlier than blood,” the court said.

“The objective of granting interim/permanent alimony is to ensure that the dependent spouse is not reduced to destitution or vagrancy on account of the failure of the marriage, and not as a punishment to the other spouse. There is no straitjacket formula for fixing the quantum of maintenance,” it added.