Bombay HC directs man to take financial care of daughter

Mumbai: In a major relief for a woman seeking maintenance for her daughter who is suffering from Down’s Syndrome, the Bombay high court has directed the father to pay the arrears of the last four years amounting to approximately Rs 20 lakh. The court observed that due to the girl’s ailment, the father was bound to support her financially for her entire life.

A division bench of justices K K Tated and B P Colabawalla was hearing a family court appeal filed by a woman seeking setting aside of a family court order that refused to allow her to withdraw Rs 50 lakh amount deposited by the husband in the bank as permanent alimony. She had also sought directions to the husband to pay the monthly maintenance for the upkeep of the daughter that he had stopped paying since 2014.

During the hearing in the HC, the woman’s advocate Rama Subramanium informed the court that the man’s refusal to pay the maintenance cost had resulted in her having to bear the cost of treatment and upkeep of her daughter from her own funds. Subramanium said that though the woman was employed and waas earning, she was finding it difficult to take care of the daughter and her treatment.

The counsel for the man advocate Narayan Suvarna submitted that as the daughter was not a minor anymore and he had stopped paying the maintenance amount. However, after the court reminded him that the responsibility for the daughter’s upkeep was solely his and hence he could not back out, the man agreed to pay the maintenance amount as well as the Rs 20 lakh in arrears by October.

The court  accepted his undertaking and asked him to transfer the amount directly into the woman’s account through Real Time Gross Settlement.