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TMI Blog1996 (4) TMI 486X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ant was a child of tender age, his mother expired and after about an year, Danyalal Hirachand took respondent No.2. Smt. Manjulapen as his second wife, from whom 5 sons and 2 daughters were born. all the 5 sons and daughters from the above named wife second wife are major. first of all, Dayalal Hirachand, the father of the appellant alone made a Miscellaneous Application No. 190 of 1984 in the Court of Judicial Magistrate, Ist Class, Surendra Nagar, claiming maintenance from his son, the appellant, contending that the appellant was serving as a Manager in Central Bank of India and was earning ₹ 5,000/- per month in addition to rental income of ₹ 1,000/- per month. The appellant contested the said application by pleading that besides the 5 sons from the second wife who are all earning members, his father himself was a person of sufficient means and assets and, therefore, the appellant was not liable to pay any maintenance allowance. 4) The learned Magistrate on evaluation of evidence found that Dilip, one of the natural born sons of the respondent No. 2 herein, had contested the Municipal Election, while the other two natural born sons of respondent No. 2 - Niranjan a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e maintenance petition against him had been filed only to harass the appellant leaving out all the 5 natural born sons of respondent No. 2 who are well-off and capable of maintaining their parents. 6) The learned Magistrate recorded the finding that Danyalal Hirachand, the father of the appellant, had agreed to receive a sum of ₹ 3,250/- in full and final settlement of his future maintenance allowance in revisional court arising out of the earlier maintenance petition and that he having sufficient means to support himself was not entitled for any maintenance allowance from the appellant. However, the trial Magistrate took the view that inspite of respondent No. 2 being a step-mother of the appellant, she had right to claim maintenance from the appellant and awarded a sum of ₹ 400/- per month as maintenance allowance to her from the date of the petition. This order has been upheld by the learned City Session Judge and the High Court as stated earlier against which this appeal by leave of this Court has been preferred. Thus, the short question that arises for consideration of this Court is whether the expression mother used in clause (d) of subsection (1) of Section ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... born sons of respondent No. 2 besides 2 daughters, who are all major. It is also a fact that Dalio one of the sons had contested the Municipal Election and two other sons are carrying on various business, According to the Law of the Land with regard to maintenance, there is an obligation of the husband to maintain his wife which does not arise by reason of any contract - express or implied - but cut of jural relationship of husband and wife consequent to the performance of marriage. Such an obligation of the husband to maintain his wife arises irrespective of the fact whether he has or has no property, as it is considered an imperative duty and a solemn obligation of the husband to maintain his wife. The husband cannot be heard saying that he is unable to maintain due to financial constraints so long as he is capable of earning. Similarly, It is obligatory on the part of son to maintain his aged father and mother by reason of personal obligation. Under the old Hindu Law. this obligation was imposed on the son alone, but now the present day Hindu Law extends this obligation both on sons and daughters, In this connection, it is relevant to point out that according to sub-section (1) ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... radesh in Rewalal Arjun Babu anr. v. Kamlabai Arjun Babu (1985 Madhya Pradesh Law Journal 541) and High Court of Andhra Pradesh In Ayyagari Suryanarayana Vara Prasad Rao v. Ayyagari Venkatakrishna Veni anr. (1989 Criminal Law Journal 673), have taken a consistent view that the word mother in Section 125 (1)(c) of the Code will have to be given its natural meaning and so considered, it will mean only the natural mother and will not include the Step-mother who in common parlance is distinct and separate entity and cannot be equated with one s won mother. 10) To resolve the controversy, it would be appropriate to reproduce the relevant part of Section 125 of the Code which reads as under:- 125. Order for maintenance of wives, children and parents,- (1) If any person Having sufficient means neglects or refuses to maintain- (a) his wife, unable to maintain herself, or (b) his legitimate or illegitimate minor child, whether married or not, unable to maintain itself. or (c) his legitimate of illegitimate child (not being married daughter) who has attained majority, where such child is, by reason of any physical or mental abnormality or injury unable to maintain its ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the relationship continues after the death of the faster. BLACK S LAW DICTIONARY, 5th Edition, at page 913, has given the meaning of mother as a woman who has borne a child, a female parent. Further, at page 1268, the meaning of stepmother is stated to mean the wife of one s father by virtue of a marriage subsequent to that of which the person spoken of is the offspring. Similarly, in THE SHORTER OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY, volume II, at page 1360, the meaning of the word mother is given as a woman who has given birth to a child or a female parent, and at page 12122, expression stem-mother has been assigned the meaning as The wife of one s father by a subsequent marriage. According to Webster Dictionary (international Edition), the expression mother means a female parent and that which was produced or given birth to anyone. Thus. on a conspectus view of dictionary meaning of the two expressions - mother and step-mother in various dictionaries, it clearly emerges that there is inherent distinction between the status of a mother and step-mother and they are two distinct and separate entities and both could not be assigned the same meaning . The expression mother clea ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... to enact the New Code of 1973 and for the first time not only the parents were included amongst the persons entitled to claim maintenance under Section 125 (1)(d) but even the divorced woman had been included in the expression wife to be entitle to claim maintenance, who were not so included in Section 488 of the step-father or step-mother are not included in the expression his-father or mother occuring in clause (d) of Section 125(1) of the code giving a clear indication of the legislative intent. 14) In view of the above discussion it follows that the expression mother, in clause (d) of section 125 (1) of Code, means and is referable only to the real or natural mother, who has actually given birth to the child and if that be so the view taken by the Gujarat High Court in Havaben Beline s case (supra) that the word mother occuring in clause (d) of Section 125(1) includes a woman who has the status of a step-mother by reason of her lawful marriage with the father of the person sought to be made liable for maintenance under Section 125. cannot be accepted. This assumption of the meaning of the expression mother by legal fiction would mean some thing which is not so inte ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... her. The obligation of the son to maintain his father, who is unable to maintain himself, is unquestionable, When she claims maintenance from her natural born children, she does so in her status as their mother . such an interpretation would be in accord with the explanation attached to Section 20 of the Hindu Adoptions and maintenance Act.1956 because to exclude altogether the personal Law applicable to the parties from consideration in matters of maintenance under Section 125 of the Code may not be wholly justified. However, no intention of Legislature can be read in Section 125 of the Code that even though a mother has her real and natural born son or sons and a husband capable of maintaining her, she could still proceed against her step-son to claim maintenance. Since, in this case we are not concerned with, we express no opining, on the question of liability, if any, of the step-son to maintain the step-mother, out of the inherited family estate by the step-son and leave that question to be decided in an appropriate case. Our discussion is confined to the obligations under Section 125 Cr.P.C. only. 16) In the present case, as discussed above, the stepmother respondent N ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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