Hyderabad: The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986 has helped several women get maintenance beyond the period of iddat after divorce, and getting back jewellery and cash given to the husband at the time of marriage.
In a recent judgement, XIII additional chief metropolitan magistrate of mahila court P Vijaya Durga ordered the return of dowry and other articles worth Rs 14 lakh to a divorced woman.
In another case, she ordered the Wakf Board to pay '2,000 per month to a divorcee for maintenance under the Act. In the first case, the magistrate relied upon Section 4(2) of the Act which says: “Where a divorced woman is unable to maintain herself and she has no relatives and still is a divorcee, the magistrate can direct the State Wakf Board to pay such maintenance determined by the court.”
The magistrate noted that “after the iddat period (the three-month waiting period after divorce before which she cannot remarry) the petitioner is maintaining herself... and facing many difficulties, she is unable to maintain herself, being an uneducated lady having no skill in her hand.”
The magistrate in ordering the husband the return of 35 tola gold and Rs 3 lakh cash and other articles worth Rs 14,80,000 to his divorced wife relied upon the judgements of the SC in Shamima Farooqui v. Shahid Khan and Danial Lateef v. Union of India. In both the cases, the apex court relied on the 1986 Act and Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
Petitioner’s counsel S. Pradeep Kumar said that in Shamima Farooqui, the apex court had ruled that the fixation of maintenance is the absolute right of the wife and it cannot be defeated on a plea that the husband does not have means to pay maintenance.
He said that Section 3(1) (a) of the Act was not restricted only for the period of iddat but that a divorced Muslim woman is entitled to a reasonable and fair provision for her future being made by her former husband and also to maintenance being paid to her for the iddat period.
