Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has held that every father is under obligation to maintain his daughter and get her married. "The obligation to maintain the daughter and get her married arises from the very existence of the relationship," the court held.
Under the Hindu Law, a daughter is entitled to be maintained out of the estate of the father even after death of the father, Justice C L Pangarkar of the Nagpur bench of the High Court has said.
The court was hearing an application filed by one Kusum Rewatkar (58) of Wardha district in 2006, for recovering the amount she spent on the marriage of her three daughters.
Kusum, a mother of five daughters, was separated from husband Nathuji about 25 years ago after he married another woman. Kusum said as Nathuji is the father of the girls, he is bound to get them married.
Also, she did not have any source of income and, therefore, had borrowed Rs 1,95,000 for the expenses incurred at the time of marrying three daughters. Kusum had also told the court the Nathuji had failed to maintain her and the children.
He had assured her that he would pay the amount and asked her to incur loans for the marriage of three of the daughters. Nathuji, however, denied that he had not maintained his daughters or that he had asked Kusum to take a loan.
Also, he said that the amount spent was not as much as she sought. Despite Kusum being unable to prove that she had taken loans, Justice Pangarkar directed Nathuji to pay her Rs 75,000 as reimbursement for the expenses she made on the daughters’ marriages.
In this case, Nathuji, who has a source of income from salary and agricultural land... has deserted his wife and daughters, is liable to make provisions of reasonable expenses for the marriage of daughters according to the codified Hindu Law, the judgement said.
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