Marriage valid or not,man must pay alimony: Court

Ruling that no stringent proof of marriage is required while ordering interim maintenance for a woman living with a man like his wife,the Delhi High Court has asked a 65-year-old man,Mahender,to pay Rs 3,000 per month to a woman,who he claimed was his domestic help.

Ruling that no stringent proof of marriage is required while ordering interim maintenance for a woman living with a man like his wife,the Delhi High Court has asked a 65-year-old man,Mahender,to pay Rs 3,000 per month to a woman,who he claimed was his domestic help.

Justice Hima Kohli refused to interfere with the order of a

Family Court,which had fixed the maintenance after finding the case prima facie in favour of the 30-year-old woman,who stayed with the man for three years before he turned her out in December 2009.

The trial court has,taking a prima facie view of the matter,reached the conclusion that as per settled legal principles,in proceedings under Section 125 (for maintenance),the standard of proof required for the validity of a marriage is not very stringent. If it can be shown that the parties living as husband and wife were being treated as married,then the same would be considered a valid marriage,sufficient to award interim maintenance to the dependents, he said.

Mahender had moved the court against a December 2010 order passed by a Rohini Family Court. He argued that as theirs was not a valid marriage the petition was no maintainable.

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