Jharkhand High Court questions husband’s income claim, orders Rs 25 lakh alimony

The Jharkhand High Court has ordered the husband to pay Rs 25 lakh as permanent alimony to his estranged wife and 12-year-old daughter. The court doubted the husband's claim of earning only Rs 10,500 per month from his mobile sales and repair shop, finding it hard to believe that the business generated such a small income. The wife, who was left without any independent source of income, struggled to support herself and her daughter.

The husband had been married to his wife since 2011 and had a daughter together. During the divorce proceedings, the husband claimed that his wife's behavior changed during her pregnancy, and after their daughter was born, she began damaging household items and threatened to implicate him in a false case. He also alleged that she left for her parents' home without any reason and had been living separately since 2017.

The court found that the husband had concealed his actual income to avoid his responsibility for maintaining his wife and daughter. The ruling stated that a husband's responsibility includes ensuring his wife can maintain a standard of living comparable to the one she enjoyed during the marriage, based on their income and status.