MaintenanceMuslim womanSupreme Court of India

Savitaben Somabhai Bhatia v State of Gujarat

AIR 2005 SC 1809; (2005) 3 SCC 63620051 min read
The case in brief30-second read
Facts
The appellant claimed maintenance for herself and her child. The High Court held that she was not the legally wedded wife because respondent No.2 was already married to Veenaben, but maintained and enhanced the child's maintenance.
Issue
Whether a woman married to a man with a living spouse can claim maintenance as "wife" under S.125 CrPC.
Held
"Wife" in S.125 means a legally wedded wife; the legislature consciously excluded women in void marriages, and the court cannot widen the provision however desirable that may be. The child's maintenance was enhanced to Rs 850 a month, with an option to the husband to pay Rs 2 lakh in full and final settlement of the child's claim.
Principle
A woman whose marriage is void because the man's earlier marriage subsisted is not a 'wife' entitled to maintenance under S.125 CrPC
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Facts

  • The appellant claimed maintenance for herself and her child. The High Court held that she was not the legally wedded wife because respondent No.2 was already married to Veenaben, but maintained and enhanced the child's maintenance.

Issue

  1. Whether a woman married to a man with a living spouse can claim maintenance as "wife" under S.125 CrPC.

Held

  • "Wife" in S.125 means a legally wedded wife; the legislature consciously excluded women in void marriages, and the court cannot widen the provision however desirable that may be. The child's maintenance was enhanced to Rs 850 a month, with an option to the husband to pay Rs 2 lakh in full and final settlement of the child's claim.

Ratio decidendi

S.125 CrPC (now S.144 BNSS) protects only a legally wedded wife; reform is for the legislature.

Exam use

How to use it in an answer

Cite for the limits of "wife" under S.144 BNSS. Earlier text in this file wrongly described this as a case on divorced Muslim women and named the wrong bench; corrected on 2026-10-22.

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Citation

Savitaben Somabhai Bhatia v State of Gujarat AIR 2005 SC 1809; (2005) 3 SCC 636

Reported: https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1590152/. This is an educational summary, not the judgment itself. Cite the reported version in professional or academic work.