Maintenance Under BNSS Section 144: Wife, Children and Parents

Section 144 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS), which replaced section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) from 1 July 2024, lets a wife, children and parents who cannot maintain themselves ask a Magistrate (or a Family Court, where one exists) to order a monthly allowance from a person who has sufficient means but neglects or refuses to support them. There is no upper limit on the amount. Interim maintenance can be ordered while the case is pending, and the Supreme Court requires both sides to file a sworn disclosure of their income and assets.

This guide covers who can claim, when a wife is not entitled, interim maintenance, the disclosure affidavit, the other laws that also provide maintenance, and how an order is enforced if payments stop.

Who can claim under section 144

A Magistrate of the first class can order a person with sufficient means who neglects or refuses to maintain any of the following to pay a monthly allowance:

• His wife, if she is unable to maintain herself. "Wife" includes a woman who has been divorced by, or has obtained a divorce from, her husband and has not remarried.
• His legitimate or illegitimate minor child, whether married or not, who is unable to maintain itself.
• His legitimate or illegitimate child (not a married daughter) who has reached majority but cannot maintain itself because of a physical or mental abnormality or injury.
• His father or mother, if unable to maintain himself or herself.

For a married minor daughter, the Magistrate can order her father to pay until she reaches majority if her husband does not have sufficient means. The law looks at capacity, not just stated income: a person who is able-bodied and capable of earning is generally treated as having means.

The remedy is meant to be quick and to prevent destitution. It does not decide who is right in the marriage, and it sits alongside the civil remedies discussed below.

When a wife is not entitled

Section 144(4) says a wife is not entitled to an allowance if she is living in adultery, if she refuses to live with her husband without sufficient reason, or if they are living separately by mutual consent. If any of these is proved after an order is made, section 144(5) requires the Magistrate to cancel it.

A husband sometimes offers to maintain his wife only if she comes back to live with him. Under section 144(3) the Magistrate can still order maintenance if she has just grounds for refusing. The explanation to that sub-section treats a husband marrying another woman or keeping a mistress as a just ground.

These exceptions apply only to the wife's own claim. A child's right under section 144 does not depend on the mother's conduct, so even where a wife is found not entitled, the children she looks after can still be awarded maintenance. A child's claim can cover school fees, tuition, medical costs and a share of household expenses, supported by bills and receipts.

Parents claiming under section 144(1)(d) must show that they are unable to maintain themselves and that the child they claim against has sufficient means and has neglected or refused to maintain them. The same parents may instead use the Senior Citizens Act, 2007, which has its own Tribunal and a monthly cap, but they must choose one route for the same claim.

Interim maintenance and the 60-day target

A claimant does not have to wait for the final order. The Magistrate can order a monthly allowance for interim maintenance and the expenses of the proceeding while the case is pending.

shall, as far as possible, be disposed of within sixty days from the date of the service of notice

Third proviso to section 144(1), Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (on applications for interim maintenance)

In practice courts often take longer. In Rajnesh v Neha (4 November 2020), the Supreme Court said interim maintenance applications should be decided within four to six months after the disclosure affidavits are filed.

The affidavit of disclosure from Rajnesh v Neha

Rajnesh v Neha is the leading judgment on maintenance. Using its powers under Articles 136 and 142 of the Constitution, the Supreme Court directed that in all maintenance proceedings, including pending ones, both parties must file an affidavit of disclosure of assets and liabilities in the format annexed to the judgment. The format covers income from salary, business and investments, property, vehicles, loans, regular expenses and the needs of dependants.

• The applicant files the affidavit with the maintenance application.
• The respondent must file a reply affidavit, generally within four weeks, and courts should not allow more than two opportunities.
• If the respondent's delay is wilful and contumacious, the court may consider striking off the defence. If the respondent files no affidavit, the court can decide on the basis of the applicant's affidavit.
• Parties in the economically weaker, below poverty line or casual labour categories are exempt from filing it.
• In any later proceeding the applicant must disclose earlier maintenance cases and orders, so the court can adjust or set off amounts already granted.

Other laws that also give maintenance

Section 144 is open to everyone regardless of religion, but it is not the only route. Rajnesh confirms that a wife can claim under more than one law, with the court adjusting for amounts already awarded.

• Hindu Marriage Act, 1955: section 24 (maintenance and litigation costs while a matrimonial case is pending) and section 25 (permanent alimony at or after the decree).
• Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956: section 18 (a Hindu wife's right to maintenance, including separate residence on certain grounds) and section 20 (children and aged or infirm parents, including an unmarried daughter who cannot maintain herself).
• Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005: section 20 (monetary relief, including maintenance, which the Magistrate can direct an employer or debtor to pay directly) and section 23 (interim and ex parte orders).
• Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007, for parents and senior citizens. See our guide on parents' right to maintenance.

A divorced Muslim woman can also claim under the criminal provision. In Mohd Abdul Samad v State of Telangana (2024) the Supreme Court held that the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986 does not exclude this remedy; LegalFirms has the Supreme Court's judgment on its judgments page. If domestic violence is also involved, a domestic violence protection application can seek maintenance alongside protection and residence orders.

Where to file and what to attach

Under section 145(1) of the BNSS, the case can be filed in any district where the person against whom maintenance is claimed is, where he or his wife resides, where he last resided with his wife (or with the mother of an illegitimate child), or where his father or mother resides. Where a Family Court has been set up under the Family Courts Act, 1984, it hears these cases instead of the Magistrate.

• A maintenance petition setting out the relationship, the neglect or refusal, the claimant's inability to maintain herself or himself, and the respondent's means.
• The disclosure affidavit in the Rajnesh format.
• Proof of relationship: marriage certificate or photographs, children's birth certificates.
• Evidence of the respondent's income and lifestyle: salary slips, business records, property papers, social media posts showing spending.
• Evidence of the claimant's needs: school fees, medical bills, rent.

Step by step: filing a maintenance case

1. Collect documents on income, expenses and the relationship, and prepare the disclosure affidavit.
2. Decide the forum: section 144 before the Magistrate or Family Court, or a claim within a pending divorce or domestic violence case.
3. File the petition with an application for interim maintenance and litigation expenses.
4. The court issues notice. Evidence is taken in the respondent's presence, or in his advocate's presence if personal attendance is excused. If he wilfully avoids service or refuses to attend, the court can proceed ex parte; such an order can be set aside for good cause only on an application made within three months.
5. Argue the interim application on the affidavits.
6. Lead evidence and obtain the final order. Ask the court to order maintenance from the date of the application.
7. If circumstances change later, either side can apply for the amount to be altered.

How the amount is fixed, and from when

There is no formula. Rajnesh lists the factors courts weigh: the status of the parties, the reasonable needs of the claimant, the claimant's own income, the respondent's income and liabilities, the standard of living in the matrimonial home, the needs of children, and serious illness or disability. The amount should be neither extravagant nor so small that it leaves the claimant in penury.

Section 144(2) says the allowance runs from the date of the order or, if the Magistrate so orders, from the date of the application. Rajnesh settled that maintenance should be awarded from the date of application in all cases, and the Supreme Court applied that rule again in Shahjahan v State of Uttar Pradesh (2025). If your order gives maintenance only from the date of the order, this is a ground worth raising in revision.

Enforcement when payments stop

If the person ordered to pay fails without sufficient cause, section 144(3) lets the Magistrate issue a warrant to recover the amount as if it were a fine, and sentence the defaulter to imprisonment of up to one month for each month's allowance remaining unpaid, or until payment is made if sooner. The order can be enforced wherever the respondent is.

Under the Domestic Violence Act, a Magistrate can also direct the respondent's employer or a debtor to pay part of the wages or dues directly to the aggrieved person, which is often more effective than repeated warrants.

Settling maintenance by agreement

Many couples settle maintenance rather than fight it, either as a monthly payment or as a lump sum. A written family maintenance agreement should state the amount, the payment date and method, how it changes over time (for example, for school fees), and what happens on default. Recording the settlement before the court, usually through a compromise or consent terms, makes it far easier to enforce. If the settlement is part of a divorce, see our guide on mutual consent divorce.

LegalFirms has a broader guide to maintenance and alimony, and a family lawyer is worth involving when the respondent's income is hidden in a business or when several cases are running at once.