The National Commission for Women (NCW) believes that a man cannot deny maintenance to his divorced wife on the grounds that he doesn’t have “sufficient” funds. As such, backed by Justice V S Malimath Committee, the commission has recommended amendments to Sections 125 and 126 of the CrPC, deleting the term sufficient funds.

“Justice Malimath recommended that term ‘sufficient funds’ must be deleted and we also believe that it is the man’s duty to maintain his wife, children and parents irrespective of his insufficient means,” says NCW chairperson Girija Vyas. Section 125 of the CrPC enables deserted or divorced women, parents or children to claim maintenance amount from husbands, children and parents respectively.

In another recommendation, the NCW has proposed to expand the definition of wife, which not only includes a woman who has been divorced and has not remarried but also a woman who has lived with a man in a relationship in the nature of a marriage or is a wife under irregular marriage.

The recommendations follow a recent workshop in Bangalore by the NCW in association with the National Law School of India University. The workshop was to discuss amendments to sections 125-127 of the CrPC. The discussion included eminent former judges and Karnataka Governor H R Bharadwaj. The recommendations will soon be sent to the Home Ministry.