A government bank official has been asked by a Delhi court to pay Rs 10,000 a month to his estranged wife and daughter to take care of themselves.

The woman, reportedly from Nagaland, said she married the man in Kolkata in October 2003 and then they started residing in Delhi as they were employed here.

The mahila court ordered the bank official to pay maintenance to his wife, observing that “it is a settled law that an able bodied man is legally and morally bound to maintain his wife and children.”

Metropolitan Magistrate Priya Mahendra, however, also expected the bank official educated wife to earn herself and said, “A woman having educational qualification and professional experience is also responsible to earn her livelihood and cannot sit idle in order to claim maintenance from husband.”

The magistrate said the woman and her daughter were entitled to receive Rs. 5,000 each per month from her husband who works with IDBI Bank in Rajasthan. The court directed the man to pay additional Rs 5,000 to his wife, as legal expenses. 

The woman also alleged that her husband was having extra marital affair with a colleague and also used to beat her due to which she and her daughter started living separately.