Solapur court orders woman to pay maintenance to 'homemaker' husband

Mumbai: In a notable judgement, a Solapur court has ordered a 47-year-old employed woman to pay a monthly maintenance to her 38-year-old homemaker husband.

Solapur civil court's Judge P.V. Patil has ordered the woman, who is the principal of a school, to pay a monthly Rs 2,000 to her husband. However, the woman claimed that she was the victim of her husband's falsehoods and will appeal in the high court against the civil court order.

Anil and Sarita (names changed), residents of Satara and Solapur respectively, met at a mass marriage event and tied the nuptial knot in November 2004 at Dhanamma temple in Guddapur village. While Sarita was well-educated and the principal of a school, Anil was unemployed.

According to Anil’s claims made in the court, Sarita had married him after he had agreed to her condition that after marriage, he would become a homemaker and reside at her home in Solapur.

However, according to Anil’s claims, the couple split in 2014 after Sarita threw him out of the house for allegedly breaking one of the kitchen utensils. Anil also claimed that he was left to live on the streets and fend for himself. Later, he filed a case in Solapur civil court seeking maintenance from Sarita and demanding that she allows him to reside at her house.

On October 12, the court ordered Sarita to pay her husband a monthly maintenance of Rs 2,000 and accommodate him in her house till the divorce case gets over. The court ruled that Sarita should pay the maintenance to her husband as she was well aware that he was unemployed and still agreed to marry him.

Refuting all the allegations made by Anil, Sarita said, “My husband’s allegation that I asked him to become a homemaker is false. The fact is that he is the one who had been mentally and physically torturing me since long. In 2014, he beat me so much on Diwali that I had to be admitted in a hospital and received stitches on my head.”