The man challenged the order in the appellate court, which upheld the maintenance order. Dissatisfied with the decision, the man approached the Allahabad High Court in a criminal revision plea.After hearing both parties and reviewing the case details, the bench of Justice Rajeev Misra delivered the verdict.The court took notice of the fact that the wife had allegedly entered into a second marriage while her first marriage was still legally valid, which amounted to polygamy—an act not allowed under Hindu law.“Since by means of the declaratory decree, the marriage of the parties has been declared null and void, it shall relate back to the date of marriage. The logical outcome… is that once the marriage of the parties itself has been declared void ab initio, the subsequent relationship between the parties is of no consequence,” observed the Court.The bench also stressed that once the marriage was declared void from the beginning, no valid “domestic relationship” as defined under Section 2(f) of the Domestic Violence Act, 2005 remained. Therefore, the wife could not claim maintenance based on a relationship that, legally, never existed.As a result, both the interim maintenance order passed by the Civil Judge and the appeal dismissal by the Additional District Judge were set aside.“There is no relationship between the parties in terms of Section 2(f) of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 since 21.11.2021,” the Court clarified.The Court concluded that both parties would bear their own legal costs in the matter.
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