Mumbai: A state legislator has filed an appeal before the sessions court against an interim order of a Bandra magistrate’s court that directed him to pay Rs 1.25 lakh per month as maintenance to a woman who claims to be his first wife. The maintenance was ordered to be paid from the date of her filing an application in 2022 under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act.
The MLA reiterated his submissions made before the lower court of never being married to the woman. The Bandra court “didn’t apply his mind and passed an arbitrary order giving interim maintenance”, stated the appeal.
Sessions court judge Shaikh Akbar Shaikh Jafar, in a Feb 28 order, noted that the MLA was not present, but the respondent-woman was. The court heard the MLA’s advocate, Sayali Sawant, and for the woman, advocate Thombare sought time to file her reply and, till the next date, submitted that she would not apply for enforcement of the interim order, dated Feb 4, of maintenance. The sessions court posted the appeal to March 21 for her reply and further hearing.
The MLA, in his appeal, said despite knowing his marital status, the woman voluntarily entered into a relationship until Nov 2020, which his family was aware of. The appeal said the maintenance order is “contrary to law, facts of the case and documents on record” and the woman has “failed to establish” how she was an “aggrieved person” under the DV Act. — Swati Deshpande
Mumbai: A state legislator has filed an appeal before the sessions court against an interim order of a Bandra magistrate’s court that directed him to pay Rs 1.25 lakh per month as maintenance to a woman who claims to be his first wife. The maintenance was ordered to be paid from the date of her filing an application in 2022 under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act.
The MLA reiterated his submissions made before the lower court of never being married to the woman. The Bandra court “didn’t apply his mind and passed an arbitrary order giving interim maintenance”, stated the appeal.
Sessions court judge Shaikh Akbar Shaikh Jafar, in a Feb 28 order, noted that the MLA was not present, but the respondent-woman was. The court heard the MLA’s advocate, Sayali Sawant, and for the woman, advocate Thombare sought time to file her reply and, till the next date, submitted that she would not apply for enforcement of the interim order, dated Feb 4, of maintenance. The sessions court posted the appeal to March 21 for her reply and further hearing.
The MLA, in his appeal, said despite knowing his marital status, the woman voluntarily entered into a relationship until Nov 2020, which his family was aware of. The appeal said the maintenance order is “contrary to law, facts of the case and documents on record” and the woman has “failed to establish” how she was an “aggrieved person” under the DV Act. — Swati Deshpande