Subanu alias Saira Banu v. A.M. Abdul Gafoor, 3 April 1987
Annual Review of Population Law 14: 71
1987
ISSN/ISBN: 0364-3417 PMID: 12346783 Document Number: 380479
The appellant, a Muslim wife, sought maintenance for herself to live separately from her husband because he had taken a second wife. In overturning a lower court ruling, the Supreme Court held that the appellant was entitled to maintenance. It relied on Section 125(3) of the Criminal Procedure Code, which it construed as conferring the right upon a wife to refuse to live with her husband if he has contracted another marriage and to obtain maintenance. It concluded that this right was not negated by the fact that Muslim personal law permits a husband to have more than one wife.