Tamil Nadu - Madurai   

High Court comes to the rescue of old woman in maintenance case

MADURAI: A. Jeyarani Darling and C. Isaac (names changed) of Usilampatti got married in 1966. The couple begot three sons and a daughter out of their wedlock. But after 43 years of married life, the woman, now 61, filed a maintenance case against her 72-year-old husband, seeking a monthly payment of Rs.2,500.

According to a petition filed by her before a civil court here, Mr. Israel retired as a lab technician in 1996 after serving in a government hospital for 35 years. He was now drawing a monthly pension of Rs.6,000 but refused to take care of her. She claimed that he was increasingly attracted towards religious activities and priesthood.

Further, her eldest son, a schoolteacher living separately with his wife, was also not interested in taking care of his mother. Stating that she was living at the mercy of her other children, the old woman claims she was unable to meet even the medical expenses of her unmarried daughter suffering from paralysis.

The case was referred to the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) here to be placed before a Lok Adalat (People’s Court), which passed a consensual order directing the husband to pay Rs.2,500 every month. In turn, the wife was directed to take care of her husband and live a peaceful life forgetting all differences between them.

“It takes lot of persuasion to make litigants change their mind in these types of cases. The result could be achieved only after several sessions of counselling. We have to cite many examples to make the parties understand that they are not the only couple suffering from such problems,” said K. Venkataswami, DLSA secretary.

Dealing with another maintenance case, he had convinced even a divorced couple to live together once again. They have three daughters and one son.

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