PRAYAGRAJ, June 30 -- The Allahabad high court has observed that parents of a woman supporting her during distress does not absolve the husband of his duty to pay maintenance. While making this observation, the high court allowed a criminal revision petition filed by a woman and her two minor children against a December 2023 order of the family court, Bulandshahr. The family court had rejected the wife's claim for maintenance entirely, while awarding Rs 3,000 per month as maintenance to each child. While allowing a criminal revision petition filed by one Reenu and her two minor children, justice Garima Prashad observed that a woman cannot be denied maintenance from her husband under section 125 of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) merely because her parents support her financially during times of distress. The court emphasised that the income of the wife's parents cannot be treated as the income of the wife, and parental assistance is not a substitute for the legal obligation of the husband to maintain his wife. The woman took the plea that the family court adopted an approach contrary to the very object of section 125 CrPC as it decided the proceedings as if it were a full-fledged matrimonial trial on cruelty and adultery. On the question of the income of the wife, the court emphasised that an able-bodied husband cannot avoid his statutory obligation to maintain his wife and children merely by suppressing his income or by pointing to support being given to his wife by her parents. The bench added that once the court accepted that there was no evidence of sufficient independent income of the wife, there was no justification to deny maintenance to her. The Court also found fault with the Family Court's award of Rs 3,000 per child per month and termed it "wholly inadequate, unrealistic". It added that the amount was insufficient to cover the minimum reasonable expenditure of school-going children, such as food, clothing, education, books, transport, and medical needs. Thus, modifying the family court's order, the high court directed the husband to pay a monthly maintenance of Rs 5,000 to the wife. It also enhanced the maintenance amount for the two minor children to Rs 4,000 each. In the judgment dated June 17, the high court further said that if the retired army personnel defaults on his payments, the wife and children can move an application before the competent court to directly seek deduction and recovery of the maintenance amount from his military pension and other lawful receivables....