Proposed private bill for 40% or more maintenance to abandoned wives

Some MRAs have discovered that apart from IrBM (Irretrievable breakdown of marriage) bill which got passed in Rajya Sabha (but not Lok Sabha) during UPA rule, a new private bill is waiting to be introduced for discussion in Lok Sabha.  The link to PDF is given below, and  a text conversion of the PDF is given later.  The bill proposes to define a category called abandoned wives and proposes to give maintenance not less than 40% of husbands’ income to such wives.  This is additional clause to be added to Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 and will not disturb existing maintenance clauses HMA 24 and 25.

http://164.100.24.219/BillsTexts/LSBillTexts/asintroduced/778LS.pdf

Provided that in no case the amount of maintenance granted under this section shall
be less than two-fifths of the gross monthly income of the husband.

(2) If a husband, at any time, fails to pay to his abandoned wife the amount of
maintenance under this section for a continuous period of two months, the court shall secure
future payment of maintenance from the husband by creating a charge on his income and, if
necessary, also on his assets.

(3) The right of maintenance and support of an abandoned wife under this section
shall be without prejudice to her right of maintenance under sections 24 or 25:

Many of provisions are replication of similar provisions under CrPC 125, HMA, and PWDVA.  Whichever ‘entities’ have drafted this bill, are either absolutely unaware about PWDVA/ CrPC 125 OR basically want to act innocent/ignorant of their existence to curry favour with some supposed vote bank of ‘abandoned wives’.

Full text of proposed bill below:

 

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                                                             A             L OK  S ABHA
                                                              S INTRODUCED IN

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                   Bill No. 44 of  2014

 

 

 

                     THE HINDU MARRIAGE (AMENDMENT) BILL, 2014
                                              B y

                                   S HRI  B HARTRUHARI  M AHTAB , M.P.

                                               A
                                              BILL

                            further to amend the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.
                B   it enacted by Parliament in the Sixty-fifth Year of the Republic of India as follows:—
                  E
                1.   ( ) This Act may be called the Hindu Marriage (Amendment) Act, 2014.  Short title,
                   1
                                                                                     extent and
                ( )  It shall come into force on such date as the Central Government may, by notification  commence-
                 2
            in the Official Gazette, appoint.                                        ment.
25 of 1955.  5  2.   In section 3 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 (hereinafter referred to as the principal  Amendment of
                                                          aa
                               a
                                                                              ) as so
            Act), the existing clause ( ) shall be renumbered as clause ( ), and before clause ( aa    section 3.
            renumbered, the following clause shall be inserted, namely:—
                     “( ) ‘abandoned wife’ means a female party to a marriage whose husband has
                       a
                deserted her or has failed to provide such support to her as, according to the customs
         10     and social practice, is expected to be provided by a husband to his wife, for a continuous
                period of not less than one year.

 

 

 

 

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                Explanation.— For reckoning the continuous period of one year, any intervening
            period of less than one month during which the cohabitation resumes and subsists, shall be
            excluded for the purpose of computing the continuous period of one year.”.

Insertion of    3.   After section 24 of the principal Act, the following sections shall be inserted,
new sections  namely:—                                                               5
24A and 24B.
                           1
Provision of         “24A. ( )  An abandoned wife shall be entitled to payment by her husband such
mandatory       sum of money every month for her maintenance and support, as, having regard to the
maintenance     husband’s own income and property, the income and property of the abandoned wife
to abandoned    and other circumstances of the case, is sufficient to enable the abandoned wife to
wife.
                sustain a standard of living commensurate with the husband’s income and property:  10

                Provided that in no case the amount of maintenance granted under this section shall
            be less than two-fifths of the gross monthly income of the husband.

                 2
                ( ) If a husband, at any time, fails to pay to his abandoned wife the amount of
            maintenance under this section for a continuous period of two months, the court shall secure
            future payment of maintenance from the husband by creating a charge on his income and, if  15
            necessary, also on his assets.

                 3
                ( ) The right of maintenance and support of an abandoned wife under this section
            shall be without prejudice to her right of maintenance under sections 24 or 25:
                Provided that the maintenance granted under section 24 shall not be less than the
            amount of maintenance granted under this section.                         20

                ( 4)  A  petition under this section shall be decided within three months from the date of
            filing of the petition.

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Right of        24 B. ( ) The husband of an abandoned wife shall provide a suitable portion of his
abandoned   residence free of cost to her with all necessary amenities to make her stay habitable:
wife to
residence.
                Provided that where the husband owns more than one residential premises, the 25
            abandoned wife shall have the option to choose any of such premises for her residence:

                Provided further that the husband and his other relatives shall, as far as practicable,
            have no right to access to such portion of residence or such residential premises, as the case
            may be.

                 2
                ( ) The right of the husband to sell or in any way dispose of any property in which his 30
            abandoned wife is living by virtue of sub-section ( ) shall remain suspended till, on a
                                                      1
            petition by either party, a decree is made under section 13  or 13B or till the expiry of one year
            from the restitution of conjugal rights of the abandoned wife under section 9 or otherwise.”.

                                        2
Amendment       4.   In section 28, after clause ( ), the following clause shall be inserted, namely:—
of section 28.
                ” (2A ) An order made under section 24A may, on an appeal, be varied to the disadvantage 35
            of the abandoned wife only on the ground that she has not remained chaste.”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                             STATEMENT  OF  OBJECTS  AND  REASONS

                The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 provides maintenance to women during the pendency
            of a proceeding for judicial separation or divorce under the Act. However, there are many
            women who are abandoned by their husbands and they are unable to take recourse to
            proceedings under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 for various reasons.
                Such abandoned women have to face severe financial and social hardships. On one
            hand, they are deprived of financial and economic support from their husbands. On the other
            hand, society does not view them with the dignity and honour that is due to them. Though
            there are social and economic dimensions of the problem, it cannot be denied that both are
            intricately related. The plight of such women becomes even more pitiable when the weaknesses
            in the existing legal framework are misused to prevent institution  of a proceeding under the
            Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 to thwart any attempt to provide maintenance to them. In this way,
            they are unable to either obtain maintenance from their husbands or get the matrimonial
            relationship terminated.

                2. In order to provide relief to women who have been abandoned by their husbands,
            the Bill proposes to amend  the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 to provide for:—
                 a
                ( ) provision of such mandatory maintenance to abandoned wife as would enable her
            to sustain a standard of living commensurate with the husband’s income and property. For
            the purposes of the Bill, a woman shall be deemed to have been abandoned by her husband
            if the husband has severed ties with her or has failed to provide such support to her as,
            according to the customs and social practice, is expected to be provided by a husband to his
            wife, for a continuous period of not less than one year;
                 b
                ( )  securing the payment of the amount of maintenance in case of default by the
            husband by creating a charge on the income and, if necessary, also on the assets of the
            husband;
                 c
                ( ) ensuring right of the abandoned wife to reside at the residence of her husband or at
            any other residential premises owned by him; and
                 d
                ( ) suspension of the right of the husband to dispose of or part with any interest in any
            property in which the abandoned wife has a right to residence.
                3. The Bill seeks to achieve the above objects.

              N EW  D ELHI ;                                 BHARTRUHARI MAHTAB
            June  26, 2014.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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                                          ANNEXURE
                              E XTRACTFROMTHE  H INDU  M ARRIAGE  A , 1955

                                                           CT
                                           (25   1955)
                                              OF
                * * * * * * *
Definitions.    3 . In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—
                      a
                     ( )  the expressions “custom”and “usage”signify any rule which, having been
                continuously and uniformly observed for a long time, has obtained the force of law
                among Hindus in any local area, tribe, community, group or family:
                     Provided that the rule is certain and not unreasonable or opposed to public
                policy; and
                     Provided further that in the case of a rule applicable only to a family it has not
                been discontinued by the family;
                * * * * * * *
Maintenance     24.   Where in any proceeding under this Act it appears to the court that either the wife
pendente lite  or the husband, as the case may be, has no independent income sufficient for her or his
and expenses  support and the necessary expenses of the proceeding, it may, on the application of the wife
proceedings.  or the husband, order the respondent to pay to the petitioner the expenses of the proceeding,
            and monthly during the proceeding such sum as, having regard to the petitioner’s own
            income and the income of the respondent, it may seem to the court to be reasonable:
                Provided that the application for the payment of the expenses of the proceedings and
            such monthly sum during the proceeding, shall, as far as possible, be disposed of within
            sixty days from the date of service of notice on the wife or the husband, as the case may be.

                * * * * * * *

Appeals from    28.( 1 )* * * * * * *
decrees and
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orders.              ( )  Orders made by the court in any proceeding under this Act under section 25
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                or section 26 shall, subject to the provisions of sub-section ( ), be appealable if they
                are not interim orders, and every such appeal shall lie to the court to which appeals
                ordinarily lie from the decisions of the court given in exercise of its original civil
                jurisdiction.

                * * * * * * *

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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                                          LOK SABHA

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                            ————

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                               A
                                              BILL
                             further to amend the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                            ————

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                  ( Shri Bhartruhari Mahtab, M.P. )

 

 

 

            GMGIPMRND—778LS(S3)—01.07.2014.