LUCKNOW, Sept. 23 -- In an important judgment, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court has ruled that a woman who has been divorced by her husband on the ground of desertion can still claim maintenance under Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), 1973, provided she has not remarried and is unable to maintain herself. Justice Ram Manohar Narayan Mishra passed the order on September 18, uploaded recently, on a revision petition filed by one Suneeta. The court observed that the grant of divorce on the ground of desertion does not, by itself, disentitle a divorced wife from seeking maintenance for the period after dissolution of marriage. With this observation, the court set aside the order of the family court, Sultanpur, which had rejected the wife's maintenance claim in its entirety, and remitted the matter for fresh consideration. The revision was filed against the order dated December 22, 2018, passed by the principal judge, family court, Sultanpur, in a maintenance proceeding under Section 125 CrPC. According to the wife, the marriage was solemnised during her childhood and she was sent to her matrimonial home after the "gauna" ceremony. Her husband subsequently joined the Indian Army. She alleged that after returning home in 2007, her husband and his family members subjected her to harassment and demanded Rs 1 lakh, a motorcycle and a colour television as additional dowry. She further alleged that an attempt was made to set her on fire. She also claimed that when her husband returned from Bangalore in 2008, he informed her that he had contracted a second marriage and brought another woman to his parental home. She claimed that she was subsequently left at her parental home and was refused maintenance. The husband, on the other hand, admitted the marriage and 'gauna' but claimed that the wife had deserted him and was unwilling to live with him at his parental home. He denied the allegations of dowry demand and cruelty and claimed that he had always been willing to maintain her. He also stated that he had filed proceedings under Section 9 of the Hindu Marriage Act for restitution of conjugal rights. htc...