Bombay High Court: A Single Judge Bench comprising of Dr. Shalini Phansalkar-Joshi, J. heard a case involving counter-petitions filed by both the parties to the matrimonial proceedings. The issue before the Court was “whether the order of maintenance passed in the proceedings filed under Section 125 of CrPC is to be followed, or, whether the order passed in the proceedings filed under Domestic Violence Act, is to be followed?”
The wife had filed a petition for maintenance under Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure in 2010, under which the husband had been directed to pay Rs 6000 to wife and Rs. 4000 to the minor daughter from the date of the order dated 2016. The wife had also subsequently filed a petition under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, under which the husband had been directed to pay an interim maintenance of Rs. 8000 to the wife and Rs. 5000 to the daughter. Taking into account this interim maintenance, the Family Court, Mumbai had awarded maintenance of Rs. 6000 to the wife and Rs. 4000 to the daughter in 2016 without making it clear whether the amount of Rs 10,000 had to be paid in addition to the interim maintenance amount or instead of the interim amount.
Relying upon Section 20(1)(d) of the Domestic Violence Act, the Court came to the conclusion that “the power to award maintenance under DV Act is in addition to an order of maintenance under Section 125 of CrPC or any other law for the time being in force”. Also, Section 36 of the aforementioned Act clarifies that the provisions of the Domestic Violence Act are to be in addition to and not in derogation of provisions of any other existing law. Therefore, it was held that since both the orders had been passed by two different forums in two different proceedings, both the orders were binding on the husband and on the wife. [Prakash Babulal Dangi v. State of Maharashtra, 2017 SCC OnLine Bom 8897, order dated 10.10.2017]
