ISSUE:
- Whether a “wife” in the CrPC included a divorced Muslim woman?
- Whether Section 125 of the CrPC overrides Muslim personal law?
- Whether a conflict exists between the payment of maintenance upon a divorce under Section 125 of the CrPC and Muslim personal law?
- Whether the sum payable on the divorce of a Muslim marriage is limited to the period of iddah?
RULE:
- Clause (b) of Section 125 contains no words of limitation to exclude Muslim women from its scope, it is secular in character.
- A divorced Muslim woman is a wife under Section 125 of the CrPC so long as she has not remarried. The statutory rights granted to her are unaffected by personal law.
- Muslim personal law (limiting the husband’s liability to the period of iddah) does not contemplate a case where the wife is unable to maintain herself. The true provision is that a husband’s liability only ceases at the end of the period of iddah so long as the wife is able to maintain herself.
