India, Aug. 29 -- A Supreme Court judgment last month settled a long-standing procedural question in maintenance law - that a wife found to be "living in adultery" can be denied even interim maintenance, under Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), provided the husband produces clear and cogent evidence. In the same verdict, the court drew Parliament's attention to a legal vacuum around private detectives and electronic surveillance often cited in cases of matrimonial disputes.

A bench of justices Sanjay Karol and Vipul M Pancholi held that the statutory disqualification under Section 125(4) - carried over as Section 144 in the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) - applies not only to final maintenance but equally to...