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Overview
The Allahabad High Court has held that a maintenance order under Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC) — now Section 144 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS) — creates a continuing obligation, and that a wife cannot be compelled to file a fresh execution application every time a monthly payment falls into default. Setting aside a Family Court order that had closed execution proceedings on the husband merely depositing one month’s arrears, the Court directed trial courts across Uttar Pradesh to enforce maintenance through direct bank transfers and salary deductions, warning of disciplinary and contempt action against judicial officers who fail to comply.
- Case: Mala Kumari v. State of U.P. and Anr.
- Citation: 2026 LiveLaw (AB) 466 — Neutral Citation 2026:AHC:152860
- Bench: Justice Praveen Kumar Giri
- Date: 24 July 2026
Facts
The petitioner had obtained a maintenance order in her favour under Section 125 CrPC. When her husband defaulted, she filed an execution application to recover the arrears. The husband deposited only one month’s arrears, and the Family Court thereupon closed the execution proceedings. When the wife later filed a fresh execution application seeking recovery of subsequent, ongoing monthly maintenance, the Family Court rejected it, relying on the proviso to Section 125(3) CrPC — which bars a warrant for recovery of any amount unless the application to levy it is made within one year of the amount falling due. Aggrieved, the wife approached the Allahabad High Court by way of a criminal revision.
What the Court Held
1. Maintenance is a continuing liability, not a one-time decree. The Court held that the obligation to pay maintenance under Section 125 CrPC (and its successor, Section 144 BNSS) is a continuing liability that persists month on month until it is fully discharged or the order is varied or set aside. A single act of partial compliance — such as depositing one month’s arrears — does not extinguish the obligation for subsequent months, and a Family Court cannot treat such deposit as closing the matter.
2. No successive execution applications required. The Bench clarified that a wife is not required to file a fresh execution application for every recurring monthly default. Requiring repeated applications for what is, in substance, the same continuing right would defeat the protective purpose of Section 125 CrPC/Section 144 BNSS and impose an unreasonable procedural burden on a claimant who is, by definition, unable to maintain herself.
3. The one-year limitation under the proviso is procedural, not a bar on the right. Addressing the Family Court’s reliance on the proviso to Section 125(3) CrPC, the Court held that this one-year limitation restricts only the specific coercive mechanism of issuing a recovery warrant or ordering detention for a particular default — it does not extinguish or curtail the wife’s underlying right to claim outstanding maintenance arrears. The same principle applies to the corresponding proviso under Section 144(3) BNSS.
4. Direction for bank-transfer and salary-deduction enforcement. To make enforcement effective and to avoid repeated litigation over the same obligation, the Court directed that the amount payable be deposited directly into the claimant’s verified bank account, and that where the person liable to pay maintenance is in salaried employment, the trial court shall direct the employer to deduct the maintenance or arrears from salary and remit it directly to the claimant’s verified bank account.
5. Compliance mandate and contempt warning to trial courts. The Court directed all Family Court Judges and Gram Nyayalayas in Uttar Pradesh to strictly follow the law laid down by the Supreme Court on enforcement of maintenance orders under Section 125(3) CrPC/Section 144(3) BNSS, and cautioned that non-compliance would invite disciplinary and contempt proceedings against the judicial officer concerned.
Precedents Relied On
- Shantha @ Ushadevi and Anr. v. B.G. Shivananjappa, (2005) 4 SCC 468 — held that the liability to pay maintenance under Section 125 CrPC is a continuing one, and that requiring successive applications for each default is unreasonable where an application within limitation already covers the continuing obligation.
- Poongodi and Another v. Thangavel, (2013) 10 SCC 618 — held that the first proviso to Section 125(3) CrPC, prescribing a one-year period to seek recovery of arrears, restricts only the procedure for recovery (by way of levy akin to a fine) and neither extinguishes nor limits the underlying entitlement to arrears of maintenance.
- Rajnesh v. Neha, (2021) 2 SCC 324 — the Supreme Court’s comprehensive guidelines on maintenance in matrimonial matters, including on overlapping claims, disclosure of assets and liabilities, and effective enforcement of maintenance orders.
Takeaway
This decision addresses a recurring procedural trap in maintenance enforcement: a Family Court treating token or partial compliance as grounds to close execution proceedings, forcing the claimant back to square one for every subsequent default. By holding that Section 125 CrPC/Section 144 BNSS maintenance is a continuing obligation — and that the one-year proviso limits only the coercive recovery mechanism, not the right itself — the Court removes the need for a wife to keep re-litigating the same entitlement. The direction to route payments through verified bank accounts and, for salaried spouses, through employer-deducted salary transfers is a structural fix aimed at reducing default in the first place, backed by the threat of disciplinary and contempt action against trial courts that fail to enforce it.
Useful Resources
- Verdictum — Mala Kumari v. State of UP (2026:AHC:152860)
- LiveLaw — report of the judgment
- Bar & Bench — report of the judgment
- Indian Kanoon — Shantha @ Ushadevi v. B.G. Shivananjappa (2005)
- Indian Kanoon — Poongadi And Anr vs Thangavel (2013)
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