The Delhi High Court on Monday imposed a fine of Rs.10,000 on a divorcee woman, holding her guilty of contempt of court by hiding material facts about her income and about an out-of-court settlement with her husband and getting an ex-parte court order for maintenance on that basis.
Imposing the fine, Justice S.N. Dhingra, however, said that after her retirement she would be free to file a petition for maintenance before a competent court.
Justice Dhingra imposed the fine on a petition by her husband alleging that after entering into an out-of-court settlement with him about maintenance here, she had filed a fresh petition for maintenance before a Jalandhar court in Punjab.
The couple was staying together at Jalandhar before separating. She was a teacher in a school there.
However, in her maintenance petition she had held back information about her job and the fact that she had entered into a settlement with her husband before an Additional District Judge here.
After the settlement, she had told the court here that she would not initiate any legal proceeding against her husband. She had later also filed an affidavit before the High Court to this effect.
Holding her guilty of the charge of contempt of court, Justice Dhingra said: “I consider that the conduct of the wife of not disclosing to this Court information about a petition being pursued by her and her conduct of concealing the material information from the court judicial magistrate at Jalandhar obtaining an ex-parte order was contemptuous and violation of the undertaking given by her.’’
