Husband transferred all property to mother a month after wife filed for divorce, told court he earned too little to pay alimony

A City court came down heavily on a man for trying to evade paying alimony to his estranged wife by transferring all his properties to his mother and faking financial helplessness. The move even worked for a while, and the woman was compelled to approach the court under the Domestic Violence Act to seek monetary relief.

A closer judicial scrutiny of the documents on record, however, uncovered the man’s ploy. Metropolitan Magistrate (MM) Twinkle Wadhwa observed that the man had transferred ownership merely a month after the woman filed for divorce for being allegedly driven out of her matrimonial home.

Pulling up the man for attempting to shirk his responsibility, the magistrate observed that the court had to come in the rescue of the woman, who was financially dependent on her husband and had been living in adverse conditions after being thrown out of the house.

MM Wadhwa has now directed the man to allow her the right of residence at her matrimonial home in Subzi Mandi. He has also been directed to bear the electricity and water expenditure of the house.

The court, in its recent order, also fixed Rs 2,600 as monthly maintenance to be paid by the man, apart from a compensation of Rs 10,000 towards the cost of litigation.

The couple was married in April 2007. Two months into the marriage, however, the man started ill-treating his wife over dowry demands. The woman was then driven out within a year of their marriage.

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