"Daughters are not a liability,": Supreme Court
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New Delhi: In a case of payment of maintenance to a woman by her father, Supreme Court ruled that daughters are no liability, PTI reported.
Referring to Article 14 of the Constitution, a bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and A S Bopanna came on Friday and said, "Daughters are not a liability," after the father's counsel told the court that the woman is a liability.
In October 2020, the SC noted that the counsel appearing for the applicants had stated that no amount was paid towards the arrears of maintenance computed at Rs 8,000 per month for the daughter and Rs 400 per month for the wife after April 2018. It directed the man then to pay Rs 2,50,000 to his spouse and daughter within two weeks.
This May, when the matter came up again, the court was told that the wife died last year. The man had submitted that he had duly paid the arrears of maintenance and referred to the bank statements.
The court said in its May order, "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," adding that the report should be returned within eight weeks.
On Friday, the court was informed that the daughter is a lawyer and has cleared the prelims of a judicial services exam. The court advised that the daughter should concentrate on her exams so that she is not dependent on her father. The court learnt that the daughter and her father had not spoken to each other for long, and it suggested they talk. It directed the man to pay Rs 50,000 to the daughter by August 8.