NEW DELHI: In a significant ruling, the Delhi High Court has held that a wife has the right to summon witnesses, including bank officials, to establish her husband’s actual financial status in a maintenance case.
Justice Ravinder Dudeja, in a detailed 11-page judgment, allowed a woman’s plea under Section 311 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), setting aside the family court’s earlier order that had denied her this right.
“Matrimonial litigation, particularly where financial dependency and concealment are alleged, demands a sensitive and pragmatic approach,” the court observed. Justice Dudeja emphasized that the evidence and witnesses the wife sought were directly relevant to the determination of maintenance and not collateral or extraneous.
He criticised the family court for taking a “hyper-technical view” and stated that it should have interpreted its powers under Section 311 CrPC in a more purposive manner.
The court noted a common pattern in matrimonial disputes, where husbands attempt to hide their actual earnings or transfer assets to evade maintenance obligations. “It is not uncommon that when there are matrimonial differences, husbands tend to suppress their real income and resort to transferring their assets to avoid payment of legitimate dues to their wives,” the judge remarked.
The case involved a couple married on February 16, 2012. The wife alleged that she faced domestic violence and dowry harassment post-marriage and that the husband, along with his family, deserted her, locking the matrimonial home and retaining her stridhan, jewellery, and cash.
She sought to summon witnesses to authenticate documents related to a Shakti Nagar property, alleging that the husband had concealed financial information, including the sale of a Noida property and his appointment as a CFO in 2014.
In response, the husband argued that the witnesses were not relevant and accused the wife of delaying the proceedings by filing multiple applications. He also claimed that she had approached the court with unclean hands.
