SunstarTV Bureau: “A married woman is not a ‘slave or part of her husband’ who can be forced to live with her husband or be ordered to go with her,” the country’s Supreme Court has ruled.
According to the case file, Hemant Gupta of Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, fired his wife in 2013 and kicked her out of the house. The Gorakhpur court later ordered her husband to pay Rs 20,000 a month after the woman filed a maintenance case. However, instead of supporting her husband, Hemant, a family from Gorakhpur filed a petition in the court to reunite with his wife. The family court heard the case and ruled in Hemant’s favor under Section 7 of the Hindu Marriage Act. However, the woman did not agree.
Later, Hemant appealed to the Supreme Court to order his wife to accompany him. Supreme Court Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul said during a hearing on the case on Tuesday that a married woman was not obliged to stay with her husband. The court asked, “What do you think?” Is a married woman her husband’s ‘slave’ or her ‘part of the property’ that she can be ordered to go with you? The court ruled that he could not be forced to go with his wife if he did not want to go with her.
