A woman living with a man for a considerably long period of time is entitled to maintenance on separation, even if they were not legally married, the Madhya Pradesh high court has ruled. Dismissing a petition filed by a 38-year-old man seeking to reject the order by the trial court to pay a monthly maintenance of Rs 1,500 to a woman he lived with, the single bench of Justice J S Ahluwalia observed that the petitioner’s only bone of contention is that since the woman is not his legally married wife, her maintenance plea is not maintainable. The trial court has not said that she is the legally married wife of the man and neither could the woman prove that they were married in a temple, the bench remarked. “But, the trial court has given a finding that since the applicant and the respondent were living as husband and wife for a considerable period of time, and the respondent has also given birth to a child, the respondent is entitled to maintenance”, the bench ruled.
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