Bengaluru:
A woman's demand for Rs 616,000 a month in maintenance – including Rs 60,000 for monthly expenses (and a separate amount for restaurant expenses), Rs 50,000 for legal fees and Rs 15,000 for purchasing clothes – was reportedly dismissed by a single-judge bench of the Karnataka High Court on Wednesday.
In a widely circulated video recording of the court hearing, Judge Lalitha Kanneganti rejected the demand, telling the woman's lawyer: “If she wants to spend (that much money), then let her earn it.”
According to Bar and Bench, the woman wanted more than the Rs 50,000 she is now receiving.
The woman reportedly demanded hundreds of thousands in maintenance because her ex-husband wore expensive clothes and spent over Rs 10,000 per month on his wardrobe. The ex-wife, her lawyer argued, should therefore be given a similar budget; the woman stated that her current wardrobe was full of “old clothes”.
The maintenance demands reportedly also included an amount of Rs 400,000 to Rs 500,000 for medical bills, including treatment and physiotherapy for knee pain, which was attributed to the ex-husband's “negligence”.
The court, however, was unimpressed. According to legal news website Bar and Bench, Judge Kanneganti asked: “Does anyone spend that much? A single woman…?”
The court, however, did not reject the maintenance claim and asked the woman to submit a more reasonable statement of expenses. “If you want an order… I want concrete figures, not this 'hundred rupees'. Otherwise, I will reject your application,” she was quoted as saying by the Times of India.
The woman was also warned against attempting to “abuse the court’s proceedings.”
And according to the above report, she was also reprimanded for attempting to negotiate with the court.
“Your client does not understand anything… You (her lawyer) should be understanding and advise her. This is not a place for negotiation. You must tell the court your actual expenses. We are giving you one last chance to be reasonable… otherwise we will dismiss the case immediately,” she explained.
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