Saurabh Malik
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, November 20
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has ruled that a court cannot impose composite civil imprisonment for more than a month in a single stroke in case of default in payment of maintenance arrears/allowances under the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
The ruling by Justice Manjari Nehru Kaul came on a revision petition filed by a man assailing an order passed by a family court on an application moved under Section 125(3) of the CrPC. The petitioner, vide the impugned order, was directed to undergo a composite sentence of 12 months' civil imprisonment for default in payment of maintenance allowance for 66 months.
The counsel for the petitioner vehemently urged that the family court gravely erred while passing the impugned order without appreciating that composite sentence could not have been ordered for default of payment of arrears.
It was also submitted that the petitioner was sentenced to civil imprisonment on March 16, 2020, soon after the passing of the impugned order. But he was released on parole following the Covid-19 outbreak. He was, subsequently, directed by the jail authorities to surrender, which he did on October 10. Since then he was confined in a prison.
Justice Kaul asserted the question for determination was whether a court could in exercise of its powers under Section 125(3) impose composite civil imprisonment in case of default in payment for more than one month in a single stroke.
Referring to the provision, Justice Kaul asserted its perusal left no manner of doubt that the court could impose a maximum sentence of one month only for breach of payment of maintenance for each month, unless the payment of the arrears was made sooner.
Justice Kaul added the Supreme Court while dealing with a similar question held in no uncertain terms that the magistrate's powers were restricted and sentence exceeding the maximum i.e. one month could not be imposed for default. If at all the default persisted even after the expiry of one month, the only remedy available to the aggrieved party was to approach the magistrate concerned again after the expiry of a month for enforcing her claim of maintenance for sending the delinquent husband to civil imprisonment.
"Therefore, what flows from the case is that the defaulter can under no circumstances be ordered to undergo composite civil imprisonment for a period beyond one month irrespective of the fact that the arrears etc. claimed in a single application by the aggrieved party may be for more than one month," Justice Kaul added.
from The Tribune https://ift.tt/3nAXaUb
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