Maintenance awarded to 575 women by courts in two major districts of Uttar Pradesh including Varanasi and Prayagraj has not been paid by their husbands, according to data submitted to the Allahabad High Court.
The district judges of Varanasi and Prayagraj submitted the information in the High Court which was hearing a case in which the Varanasi police were unable to explain why they have not been able to trace a man missing for over four years after a lower court directed him to pay a maintenance to his wife after alleged domestic violence.
Summons not served
In Varanasi, 136 such cases were before the district court while 347 were in the family court. The award of maintenance had been ordered in these cases but they were not executed as the summons had not been served till date, the High Court noted. In a letter submitted by the district judge Prayagraj on October 22, a similar reason was given about 92 cases.
The High Court had on two occasions in the recent months directed the two districts to submit the data while hearing the case of Priyanka Upadhyay whose husband Arvind Upadhyay has been untraceable since 2017.
Ms. Upadhyay had filed a case of domestic violence against her husband and on November 4, 2016 a lower court directed him to provide a separate living room to her and their daughter along with a maintenance of ₹1,000. The court passed another order saying if the husband did not comply with the first order, the local SHO must ensure its compliance.
The husband then moved the High Court against the orders and on December 5, 2016 got an interim order ex parte where both orders were stayed. When the man was asked to be produced before the High Court, his counsel said he was missing since April 9, 2017. A missing person FIR was also lodged on May 16, 2018, his counsel told the court.
Judge comes down on authorities
On October 27, Justice Manju Rani Chauhan granted Commissioner of Police Varanasi two weeks and no further time to trace Arvind Upadhyay, as the court came down on the authorities for not informing it about the status of the case.
“This court is sorry to record as how many times and for how long, the Commissioner, Varanasi will pray for time to trace a person who is missing for more than four years like the applicant and this court will continue to grant the same,” Justice Chauhan said.
Varanasi Commissioner in an affidavit submitted in the High Court said a police team had been constituted to trace the man and the officers in Varanasi were trying their best to trace him.
