The Supreme Court of India on Tuesday observed that a woman is not a chattel to be forced to live with her husband.
The top court was hearing a case where a man sought an order from the court to his spouse to start living with him again.
The case refers to a 2019 order on restitution of conjugal rights passed in favour of the man by a family court in Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur.
The woman had claimed that she was tortured by her husband and therefore moved out. She had filed a case seeking maintenance in 2015.
The family court in Gorakhpur had ordered the husband to pay Rs 20,000 every month, after which the man filed a petition seeking restoration of conjugal rights.
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The man then approached Allahabad High Court where his plea was dismissed. He later moved the Supreme Court.
According to a Network 18 report, the woman maintained that her husband’s “game” was to simply avoid paying maintenance, her lawyer Anupam Mishra told the court.
