NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court recently observed that it is the sacrosanct duty of the husband to provide financial support to the wife and to the minor children. A bench of Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Bela M Trivedi also said husband is required to earn money even by physical labour, if he is able-bodied, and could not avoid his obligation, except on the legally permissible grounds mentioned in the statute.
Laying emphasis on the legislative intention behind the implementation of section 125 of CrPC which deals with the maintenance of wives, children and parents the court said the section was conceived to ameliorate the agony, anguish and financial suffering of a woman who is required to leave the matrimonial home so that some suitable arrangements could be made to enable her to sustain herself and the children. “Section 125 CrPC is a measure of social justice and is specially enacted to protect women and children,” the court also said.