On Wednesday, January 4, the Allahabad High Court held that a divorced Muslim woman is entitled to maintenance from her ex-husband for the rest of her life until she remarries and not only till the completion of Iddat period.
A High Court bench comprising Justice Surya Prakash Kesarwani and Justice Mohd. Azhar Husain Idrisi while hearing the appeal filed by a Muslim woman named Zahida Khatoon, against a Ghazipur family court order which ruled that she is entitled to receive maintenance from her former husband Narul Haque only till the Iddat period which lasts for three months and thirteen days from the date of divorce.
Zahida Khatoon got married to Narul Haque on May 21, 1989, however, after 11 years of marriage, Haque divorced Zahida Khatoon on June 28, 2000, and married another woman in 2002.
Setting aside the family court order dated September 12, 2022, the Allahabad High Court cited Section 3 of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986, and said that the payment of maintenance is not confined only to the Iddat period.
The High Court bench observed that “the principal judge of the Ghazipur family court has committed a manifest error of law to hold that the appellant is entitled to maintenance only till the period of iddat.”
The High Court stated that the family court “misunderstood the Supreme Court’s decision in the case of Danial Latifi vs Union of India (2001)”. The ruling in the 2001 case stated that a Muslim husband is obligated to make reasonable and fair provisions for his divorced wife’s future, which certainly includes her maintenance. The husband must make such a reasonable and fair provision (maintenance) that extends beyond the iddat period within the iddat period.
Following that, the High Court remanded the case to the family court to determine the amount of maintenance and return of properties to the appellant by her former husband in according to the law within three months.
It is pertinent to mention that the Iddat period in the case of divorced women means if the Muslim woman is menstruating at the time of her divorce, three menstrual courses after the date of divorce. Three lunar months after her divorce if she is not menstruating; and if she is pregnant at the time of her divorce, the period between the divorce and the delivery of her child or the termination of her pregnancy.
