LI Network
Published on: January 17, 2024 at 10:00 IST
In a landmark decision, the Allahabad High Court has ruled that unmarried daughters, irrespective of their religious background, Hindu or Muslim, have the right to seek maintenance regardless of their age.
The Court’s pronouncement came in response to a petition filed under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, by the parents of three daughters challenging an order granting maintenance to them.
The three daughters had invoked the provisions of the DV Act, alleging mistreatment by their father and step-mother. The trial court had granted interim maintenance, a decision contested by the respondents who argued that the daughters were adults and financially independent. The appellate court upheld the trial court’s decision.
Justice Jyotsna Sharma, presiding over the case, unequivocally stated, “there remains no doubt that an unmarried daughter, whether Hindu or Muslim, has the right to obtain maintenance, irrespective of her age.”
The Court emphasized that when addressing the right to maintenance, other applicable laws should be considered, but for issues falling under the DV Act, independent rights are available to the aggrieved party under section 20 of the Act itself.
Rejecting the petitioner’s argument that adult daughters cannot claim maintenance, the court underscored the DV Act’s objective of providing more effective protection to women. It highlighted that while substantive rights to receive maintenance may stem from other laws, the DV Act, 2005, offers a quicker and more expedient procedure for obtaining the same.
The Court dismissed the revision, asserting that there were no grounds to interfere with the impugned orders in the case titled Naimullah Sheikh & Anr. v. State of U.P. & Ors.,
