NEW DELHI: Daughters are no liability, the Supreme Court has said while dealing with a matter relating to payment of maintenance to a woman by her father. The observation from a bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and A S Bopanna came after the counsel appearing for the man said that the woman is a liability. “Daughters are not a liability,” Justice Chandrachud observed while referring to Article 14 of the Constitution which deals with equality before the law.
The court had in October 2020 noted that the counsel appearing for the applicants had stated that no amount was paid towards the arrears of maintenance computed at `8,000 per month for the daughter and `400 per month for the wife after April 2018. It had then directed the man to pay `2,50,000 to his spouse and daughter within two weeks.
Later, when the matter came up for hearing in May this year, the bench was informed that the wife had died last year. “In order to enable the court to have a factual report on whether the order for the payment of maintenance has been complied with, we request the registrar (judicial) to prepare a factual report after ascertaining the position from the counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioners and the respondent,” the court had said in its May order.