Mumbai court orders imam to pay maintenance to wife

Court asks imam to pay Rs9,000 a month as maintenance

A Mumbai-based imam who allegedly left his wife for another woman almost three years ago has been ordered to pay for the maintenance of his wife and four children.

While the court asked the imam to pay maintenance, it did not allow the compensation of Rs50,000 claimed by the wife as the wife failed to bring sufficient evidence in court towards the same. (REPRESENTATIONAL PHOTO/HT FILE)

The imam works in a Malwani mosque and has been married with the aggrieved woman since April 2006. The mother of four filed a case under the Domestic Violence Act at the Borivli metropolitan court. In her plea, the 27-year-old woman submitted that she has been forced to stay with her mother, who stays in the same vicinity as her husband.

According to the wife’s application, the imam has been living with another woman since June 2015. She alleged that her husband and the woman would abuse her and her mother in filthy language. He also took Rs1 lakh from his wife’s mother, the application said.

“He physically and mentally tortured me and committed emotional, physical and economic violence,” the wife submitted, seeking a compensation of Rs50,000 towards her expenses and that of the education for her children aged eight, seven, five and two years.

Additional chief metropolitan magistrate DD Kurulkar noted that while the imam appeared in the matter, he failed to file a say in the case.

The imam, the court held, was given ample opportunity to cross-examine his wife but failed to do so, after which the order was passed.

Finding merit in the wife’s complaint that she is a victim of domestic violence, the court ordered the imam to pay Rs9,000 per month as maintenance for his wife and four children. The court also ordered the imam to restrain himself and his relatives, friends and employees against committing any act of domestic violence towards his wife and their four children.

The court, however, did not allow the compensation of Rs50,000 as the wife failed to bring sufficient evidence in court towards the same.