Wife cannot seek alimony to equalise husband's current wealth: Supreme Court

New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): The Supreme Court has ruled that a wife cannot seek alimony to equalize her estranged husband’s wealth following a divorce. A bench of Justices B.V. Nagarathna and Pankaj Mithal emphasized that a husband is not obligated to maintain his wife in accordance with his improved financial status post-separation. Highlighting that a Hindu marriage is a sacred institution and not a commercial venture, the court cautioned against the misuse of legal provisions designed to protect women as tools to "chastise, threaten, or extort" their husbands.

The judgment came as the court dissolved a marriage on the grounds of irretrievable breakdown and ordered the husband to pay Rs 12 crore as permanent alimony to settle all claims. The bench raised concerns about the growing trend of filing criminal complaints, including allegations of cruelty or intimidation, as leverage for monetary demands. It criticized the swift actions by police and courts in such cases, which often target even elderly relatives of the accused, exacerbating matrimonial disputes.

In this case, the wife had demanded alimony based on her husband's alleged Rs 5,000-crore net worth and past settlement of Rs 500 crore with his first wife. The court rejected her claim, noting that alimony should not be used as a means of wealth equalization but instead determined based on various factors, including the spouse’s financial needs and circumstances. It upheld the family court's alimony assessment, adding Rs 2 crore to the initial settlement for the wife to purchase an additional flat while quashing all criminal cases filed by her.