HC to man: Pay Rs15 lakh alimony for remarrying amid pending divorce case

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: A husband, who married a second time while his matrimonial dispute with his first wife was still pending, has been ordered by Karnataka High Court to pay alimony of Rs15 lakh instead of Rs 2 lakh to the latter. The High Court substantially enhanced the compensation of Rs 2 lakh awarded by the Family Court considering his second marriage.

The 34-year-old first wife from Chitradurga, approached the High Court against her 40-year-old husband. The couple were married in 2007 and had two children in 2008 and 2011. The husband filed a petition in 2014 seeking dissolution of marriage alleging that his wife had deserted him in December 2011 and has refused to join him in the matrimonial house since then.

The Family Court in 2015 ordered the dissolution of marriage and also ruled that the wife was entitled for a permanent alimony of Rs 2 lakhs. The wife challenged this by filing an appeal before the HC in 2016. The division bench of the HC comprising Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Anant Ramanath Hegde gave their judgement on it recently.

Second marriage

The HC noted that the wife had started to live with her parents in 2012 and till the divorce petition was filed by the husband in 2014 had not made any attempt to go back to him. Therefore it concluded that the ground for divorce on grounds of desertion was made out.

However, the HC found that the ground of cruelty alleged by the husband and accepted by the Family Court was not made out. In the same petition, another bench which had heard the case earlier had directed the parties to file an affidavit for a settlement with the husband paying a permanent alimony of Rs 15 lakh. While the wife had filed it in 2021, the husband did not.

“However, the husband, despite the opportunity being afforded to him, has not chosen to file an affidavit. Therefore, in the fact situation of the case, in the absence of any rebuttal, the averments made on behalf of the wife have to be taken to be accepted. Even otherwise, the wife is a housewife and has to take care of the children who are schoolgoing,” the HC said.

The HC noticed that the husband had remarried in the meantime. “It is also not in dispute that the husband during the pendency of the appeal has re-married. Therefore, the wife is entitled to live separately and is entitled to claim permanent alimony.

Therefore, taking into account the status of the parties and in the absence of any rebuttal on behalf of the husband, in the considered opinion of this court, it is eminently just and proper to award a sum of Rs.15 lakhs by way of permanent alimony to the wife,” it said. (MFA 4714/2016 )