Educated Women Should Not Remain Inactive for Maintenance: High Court

Delhi High Court rules that educated women should not remain inactive to claim maintenance(thefamilypractice.ie)

The Delhi High Court has made a significant observation regarding the tendency of highly educated women to depend on their husbands for maintenance despite being capable of working.

While dismissing a woman’s plea for maintenance, the bench of Justice Chandra Dhari Singh stated that women who are well-educated and have prior work experience should not remain inactive solely to claim maintenance. Upholding the decision of the family court, the High Court rejected the woman’s petition.

The court noted that the woman holds a postgraduate degree from Australia and was employed in Dubai before her marriage. Considering these facts, the court stated that she should actively seek employment to become self-sufficient rather than behave like women who are uneducated and dependent on their husbands for basic needs.

The bench further remarked that it fails to understand why the woman has chosen to remain inactive after returning to India. Challenging the family court’s order dated November 5, 2022, which denied her maintenance, the woman argued that she had worked in Dubai between 2005 and 2007 but had not been employed since. She contended that the family court did not properly consider the timeline of her education, last job, and marriage while passing the order.