Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva and Justice Vikas Mahajan, a division bench of the Delhi High Court, have stated that if someone marries a person who already has a child, they cannot later claim that the child is not their responsibility. The court made it clear that when a person enters into a marriage with someone who has a child, it is presumed that they have accepted the responsibility of the child and cannot argue otherwise in the future.
The court rejected a husband’s appeal to change the family court’s final judgment granting him a divorce from his wife based on desertion. As per the order of the family court, the husband was directed to pay a monthly maintenance amount of Rs. 2,500 for the first five years and Rs. 3,500 for the subsequent five years to his two children. Additionally, he was ordered to pay Rs. 5,000 per month until both children attain financial independence or get married. The petitioner had requested that the family court modify its order regarding child support payments, citing the elder daughter’s classification as a dependent in the Army order issued for his wife’s first marriage with an Army personnel.
However, the Delhi High Court upheld the family court’s decision, stating that the Army order merely acknowledged information that the petitioner was already aware of. The court determined that this did not qualify as a change in circumstances as stipulated in Section 25(2) of the Hindu Marriage Act. It is worth noting that the younger daughter was born out of the petitioner’s marriage to his wife.
According to the Delhi High Court, it is not contested that the petitioner was aware that his wife’s first daughter was born from her previous marriage when he married her. The court further noted that if the wife had known that the petitioner was not going to take care of her daughter, she would not have married him in the first place. The court also acknowledged that the petitioner was taking care of and supporting the elder daughter until the parties’ relationship broke down.
The Delhi High Court dismissed the appeal of a petitioner who had challenged a family court’s decision to deny his application for modifying the final judgment that granted divorce to him from his wife on the grounds of desertion. The family court had ordered the petitioner to pay a certain amount for the maintenance of his two children from his wife, one of whom was born from her previous marriage while the other was born during their marriage.
The petitioner had sought modification of the family court’s order, citing an order passed by the Army authorities that showed the elder daughter as a dependent of his wife’s late husband. However, the division bench rejected his plea, stating that the Army order did not constitute a change in circumstance as required under the Hindu Marriage Act.
The court further noted that the petitioner was already aware of the elder daughter’s existence and had undertaken her responsibility, as the wife had been bringing her up and maintaining her until their separation. Therefore, the court found no fault with the family court’s decision and dismissed the appeal.
Source: https://www.livelaw.in/news-updates/delhi-high-court-wife-marriage-child-previous-marriage-husband-223170
