High Court orders Muslim man to take care of Hindu wife and child

A man and his wife belong to the Muslim and Hindu community respectively and had been separated after the girl’s parents had complained that their daughter was kidnapped. But after the girl delivered a child, the parents abandoned her, due to which the girl had no option but to go back to the husband. 

However, the court wanted assurances from the man before the girl was allowed to start living with him along with the child.

After asking a ‘jobless’ Muslim man to deposit Rs 50,000 as a ‘surety’ for maintaining his Hindu wife and eight-month-old child, the Bombay High Court on Thursday imposed some more conditions. The high court has now asked the man to open another account in the name of the child and deposit a sum of Rs 5,000 per month for his future.

A ‘concerned’ bench of Justices Satyaranjan Dharmadhikari and Bharati Dangre clarified that it was imposing such conditions only to ensure the woman was not abandoned later by the husband. The judges imposed conditions on Jan-e-Aalam, a resident of Uttar Pradesh, alleging that his legally married wife was separated from him by her family. He has accordingly filed a writ of habeas corpus, seeking custody of his wife and his newborn child.

Pursuant to the earlier orders, Aalam informed the judges on Thursday that he had opened an account in his wife’s name and had also deposited Rs 50,000 in her name, in a Palghar public sector bank. He also informed the judges that he would take his wife and child to Uttarakhand, where he would live in a house owned by his sister-in-law.

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“We fail to understand as to why would your sister-in-law allow you and your family to live in her house. We are of the opinion that you are taking your wife there, only to exploit her. She would be forced to do the household chores and help out your sister-in-law. You will let her live at the mercy of your family,” Justice Dharmadhikari said.

“We apprehend that once you take her there, you can withdraw the deposited amount and misuse it. Thus, this amount (Rs 50,000) will remain here in the bank initially for a period of three years. Further, you will have to open a new account in the name of your child and deposit Rs 5,000 per month. We do not care if you earn only Rs 5,000, the entire amount then must be deposited for the child,” Justice Dharmadhikari added.

The judges noted that Aalam was facing prosecution under charges of rape since his wife’s family had registered a complaint against him in Bhiwandi. “Once you get the custody of the wife and the child, you will take them to Uttarakhand and then cite the orders of this court get rid of all the charges against you. We don’t want such a situation to arise,” Justice Dharmadhikari remarked.

During the course of the hearing, Aalam, who had married Sita (name changed), his neighbour in Itawa, UP, in January 2017 in an Arya Samaj temple in Lucknow, agreed to open a new account in his child’s name. “We want you to file an affidavit spelling out your stand on this issue. Till then, we direct the police to inform the wife of the conditions and developments in the matter. Let her understand the concern of this Court and what is her stand now. We will pass detailed orders on Monday,” the judges said.