Remarriage is not a ground to deny maintenance to divorced wife under Muslim law: Karnataka HC

The Karnataka High Court has held that having a second wife and a child from that marriage is not a ground to deny monthly maintenance to the first wife under Muslim family law, Bar and Bench reported on Thursday.

The court made the observation while hearing a petition filed by a man named Ezazur Rehman, seeking to quash an order passed by a Bengaluru family court in 2011. The court had directed Rehman to pay a monthly maintenance amount of Rs 3,000 to Saira Banu, whom he had divorced in 1991.

Soon after their marriage, Banu had complained of harassment over dowry. Rehman then divorced her by uttering talaq. He paid Banu a monthly maintenance of Rs 900 during the iddat period.

In Islam, Iddat is the period that a woman needs to wait to remarry after the death of her husband or post a divorce.

Rehman stopped paying the maintenance to Banu after this period.

In 2002, Banu filed a suit seeking monthly maintenance. But, Rehman opposed the petition saying that he had remarried and had a child with his second wife. Rehman also argued that he had been acquitted in the dowry harassment case filed by Banu.

In 2011, a family court in Bengaluru directed Rehman to pay Rs 3,000 to Banu every month….

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