Spouses cite Covid-19 hardship to bypass maintenance payments

Spouses cite Covid-19 hardship to bypass maintenance payments

TNN | Sep 3, 2020, 04.37 AM IST

Vijayawada: Women dependent on maintenance from their husbands are among the worst-hit by Covid-19, a study by a city-based NGO has shown. The number of divorced women seeking redressal through grievance portals has increased after their former spouses stopped paying maintenance citing financial constraints due to the Covid-19 lockdown.

Under the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 and Section 23(1) of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, women can claim maintenance from their spouse.

Allegations of spouses defaulting on maintenance payments have grown recently. “The domestic violence (DV) court in March 2019 ruled in my favour and directed my husband to pay me a monthly maintenance of Rs 6,800. He paid it for two to three months and then stopped. I used to work in an Auto Nagar industry as a daily labourer and earn some money but the lockdown changed that and I lost my job. Maintenance is the only source of income for me and my children,” said K Sandhya Rani (name changed), a resident of Prasadampadu.

In its study, Vasavya Mahila Mandali (VMM), the NGO that conducted research on 151 women who are supposed to receive maintenance, showed that none of 151 women have been receiving regular payments. The court had ruled in favour of all the women. Polisetty Subhashini, legal counsellor at VMM said, “Not even five per cent of women are getting paid maintenance regularly. Husbands are utilising legal privileges to avoid payment of maintenance. The situation of these women has become pathetic after the lockdown and most of them are not in a position to feed their families.”

Advocates agree that legal loopholes have worsened matters for women. “A woman can only complain in a court when she does not receive mainentanance for 12 months at a stretch. The husband can pay the dues in court or simply accept a one-month-long imprisonment to waive off dues. Many husbands are doing this. We have started a fight against this and are circulating petitions. We will soon move the Supreme Court, challenging Acts that worsen the plight of women,” said senior advocate Neeru Mishra.