Estranged wife is entitled to know the income and assets details of her husband for claiming maintenance, a Delhi Court has said while ruling out that it was for the woman to prove that her spouse was a man of means.
"The details of his (man) assets and income are the facts which are specifically in the knowledge of the husband and therefore, it is only the man who can produce the said details and not the wife," Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Kamini Lau said.
The remarks were made by the court while rejecting the plea of a man, an advocate by profession, to set aside the order of a magistrate asking him to provide the details of his income and assets while dealing with the issue of granting interim relief to the complainant wife.
The ASJ was adjudicating an appeal filed by the man, a resident of Karol bagh here, challenging the order of the magisterial court on the ground that burden of proof was upon the wife to prima facie show his income and also to show that she was unable to maintain herself.
The sessions court, however, dismissed his plea saying, there was no illegality in the order of the magistrate and directed the man to comply with the trial court's order within two weeks and asked him and the woman to appear before the magistrate on May 25.
The man said in his plea that his wife was not able to show anything about his income except making claiming that he was a practicing advocate earning over Rs 50 lakh per annum.
The woman had approached the magistrate under the Protection of Women From Domestic Violence Act praying for grant of protection order, residence order and maintenance from her husband.