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.