Maintenance to Wife -- Evidence by Affidavit in Family Court -- Not permissible under S.126(2) CrPC
(i) Criminal Procedure Code, 1973, S.126(2) -- Maintenance to Wife -- Evidence by Affidavit in Family Court -- Not permissible, since the provision mandatorily requires evidence to be taken in the presence of the person against whom maintenance is sought, or his pleader. The procedure under Order XVIII Rule 4 CPC permitting chief-examination by affidavit cannot be imported into maintenance proceedings in the absence of an express statutory provision. Family Courts remain bound by the procedure prescribed under Chapter IX of the CrPC while deciding maintenance claims. (ii) Criminal Procedure Code, 1973, S.125 -- Maintenance to Wife -- Non-Disclosure of Income and Assets by Parties -- Renders the maintenance determination unsustainable where the Family Court fails to secure comprehensive affidavits disclosing income, assets, liabilities and expenditure of both parties before assessment. Such disclosure is necessary to enable an objective assessment of maintenance, and its absence goes to the root of the adjudicatory process.
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