Smt. Zaitoonbi vs Shaikh Farid

S.W. Puranik, J.—Appellant is the original Applicant in a Family Court case for grant of maintenance u/s 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Originally, she had preferred the application u/s 125 before the Metropolitan Magistrate, Andheri where part of the evidence was recorded. However after the establishment of the Family Court, the matter was transferred and registered before the Family Court No. 2 at Bandra. It was registered as Petition No. E/1272/89.

It was the case of the appellant-applicant that she was the legally wedded wife of the respondent Shaikh Farid, their marriage having been performed in the year 1962 according to Mohammedan rites. Accordingly, they cohabited together for a period of two years. But in the year 1964 the respondent married another woman and deserted the applicant. It is also her case that initially she was married to one Musa Usman who expired in the year 1952 and it is after a gap of 10 years thereafter that she married the respondent who happened to be a friend of her deceased husband.

Even though she was deserted in the year 1964 as alleged by her, she preferred her application before the Metropolitan Magistrate u/s 125 in the year 1985 after a lapse of about 21 years.

The respondent husband contested the proceedings for maintenance and denied the relationship of husband and wife between the parties. He did admit that he was knowing the applicant and that he had helped her when she was in financial difficulties. However he is specific that there was no marital relationship between them. He has also made an allegation that the applicant was working in film industry and had several marriages with other persons and the last one was Musa Usman who died in the year 1952. While on the other hand, he claims to be coming from a respectable family with a happy marital life and a child.

During the pendency of the proceedings before the Metropolitan Magistrate, the respondent-husband had denied the signature on the Nikahnama and had requested the Court to forward the Nikahnama with comparative signatures to Government Handwriting Expert for opinion. The opinion of the Government Handwriting Expert was received who opined that the signature on the Nikahnama and the signature of the respondent are similar, The respondent-husband objected to the said report on the round that it was not accompanied by a statement of reasons to substantiate the opinion. The learned Metropolitan Magistrate however rejected his application for sending the papers for second opinion to another Handwriting Expert. The respondent preferred a revision before the Sessions Judge who on hearing both the parties held that the earlier opinion was Improper and not admissible and allowed the request of the respondent to send the disputed signature on the Nikahnama alongwith the comparative signatures to another Expert. It was therefore sent to Mr. H.T. Gajjar. His opinion alongwith a detailed statement of reasons was received which indicates that the signature on the Nikahnama does not tally with that of the respondent. However in view of the contradictory opinion expressed by the two Experts, we are hesitant to accept either of the reports. We will, therefore, go on the direct evidence of the applicant Zaitoonbi and PW 2 Kazi who were the concerned witnesses to establish the performance of Nikah in the year 1962 as alleged.

In order to establish her claim for maintenance and in view of the fact that the marital relationship itself was denied by the respondent, the onus of proving the fact of marriage lay heavily upon the applicant. She has led her own evidence and has relied on the evidence of PW 2 Kazi Sayyad Mehtab to establish her marriage with the respondent. Perusal of the said depositions of the applicant and the said Kazi shows that the evidence in respect of marriage is very sketchy. Except for uttering that the marriage took place 23 years ago with the respondent and producing the Nikahnama. for perusal of the Court at Ex. A-1 she has not given any details of the said .marriage. She has also not referred to the names of the witnesses or Vakils who ought to have been necessarily present at the Nikah. A muslim marriage is a contract and it is always evidenced by a Nikahnama in the form of a contract signed by the parties and attested by witnesses and Vakils. Her subsequent deposition indicates that she never cohabited with the respondent as she was evasive while answering to Court question in that regard. On the contrary, she has given a positive reply that the respondent continued to visit her and later discontinued visiting her at the instance of others. In her application however, she has stated that after 1964 when she was allegedly deserted she had never met the respondent when he took another wife.

The deposition of Kazi Sayyad Mehtab is also very sketchy. He claims to be the Kazi at the material time and says that he is in possession of original register of marriage. He has produced a copy of the Nikahnama at Ex. P-2. According to him be had performed the said marriage of the applicant with the respondent and had obtained the signatures of both the parties on the register of marriage. According to him his father had expired in the year 1960 who was the original Kazi and from 1960 onwards the witness PW 2 took over the office as Kazi.

The applicant Zaitoonbi as well as witness Kazi Sayyad Mehtab were recalled on the request of the respondent before the Family Court. In her re-examination Zaitoonbi has stated that the respondent came to her residence in the evening, asked her to hurry up and took her to Bhendi Bazar in a taxi to the Kazi''s place where they were married. It was at 10.00 p. m. and she returned at 11.00 p. m. From the perusal of her initial deposition and the subsequent deposition it would be clear that she nowhere refers to have executed or put her signatures on the Nikahnama or the marriage register. She never refers to the presence of witnesses or Vakils. Therefore her contention of a legal marriage with the respondent solely rests on the testimony of Kazi PW 2 who was also recalled for further examination.

The evidence of Kazi recorded on the second occasion after being recalled makes a very interesting reading. Whereas at the time of his earlier deposition he has disclosed his age as 30 years in 1985, in his second deposition in the year 1990 his age has jumped up to 44 years probably to rectify his earlier mistake. It is obvious that if the marriage had taken place in the year 1962 as alleged, then a 30 year old Kazi in the year 1985 would have been only seven years of age on the relevant date in 1962. In his second deposition he has stated that he was 16 years of age at the relevant time, but admits that he was not Kazi at the time of the marriage. It was his father who was the Kazi. Here again he has faltered because in his earlier deposition he had stated that his fattier bad expired in the year 1960 which means his father would not have been alive at. the time of alleged wedding, whereas in his subsequent "deposition he says that his father expired in the year 1974. Above all, he has made a categorical admission in his re-examination when he says that he had not seen the respondent any time either at Nikah or subsequent thereto. He does not remember to have seen the respondent on the date of marriage also and this deposition he has given on the basis of the record. He has also given contrary versions in respect of the procedure regarding writing of names of witnesses in a Nikahnama and marriage register. At any rate, his testimony inspires to confidence at all and in fact it is not worth the paper it is written on.

In the light of these two depositions of appellant Zaitoonbi and PW 2 Kazi, we have no hesitation to hold that the applicant-appellant has failed to establish a legal marriage between herself and the respondent.

The learned Family Court Judge has rightly appreciated the evidence and recorded his reasons for holding accordingly and we do not see any reason to interfere with the same.

In view of the fact that the marriage itself is not established as contended by the appellant-applicant, we need not go into other aspects urged before us. Suffice it to say that the applicant is not entitled to grant of any maintenance.

At this stage the learned Counsel for respondent Mr. Mahato makes a statement on behalf of the respondent-husband that in the present proceedings u/s 125 Code of Criminal Procedure whatever amount of interim maintenance was awarded has been paid by the respondent-husband to the wife and he agrees not to ask for refund of the same in view of the financial condition of the applicant.

In the result, the appeal fails being without any merit and is dismissed. There shall be no order as to costs.