Wife not entitled to interim maintenance if adultery allegation is prima facie true: SC

The Supreme Court ruled that a wife cannot be granted interim maintenance if an allegation of adultery is prima facie true.

A bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and Vipul M Pancholi quashed the Rajasthan High Court order that denied the husband's plea to examine adultery allegations before granting interim maintenance.

Section 125(4) of the Criminal Procedure Code bars maintenance if adultery is proved, but the Court held that a husband must establish the charge ex facie evidence at first instance to bar interim maintenance.

The Court said the trial court and HC erred in holding that the question could only be decided at final adjudication, rendering the statutory provision otiose.