Calcutta HC orders Mohammed Shami to pay Rs 4 lakh alimony to estranged wife

New Delhi, July 1 (IANS) The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday ordered Indian cricketer Mohammed Shami to pay Rs 1.5 lakh per month interim maintenance to his estranged wife Hasin Jahan and a sum of Rs 2.5 lakh towards the care and expenses of their minor daughter.

A Bench of Justice Ajoy Kumar Mukherjee was hearing an appeal filed by Hasin Jahan challenging a decision of the Alipore Sessions Judge who had directed Mohammed Shami to pay Rs 50 thousand per month to Hasin Jahan and Rs 80 thousand to their daughter towards interim monetary relief.

The appeal filed by Hasin Jahan contended that Alipore’s Sessions judge “mechanically” granted “inadequate and insufficient” interim relief when she has a meagre monthly income of Rs 16 thousand, but her monthly expenditure goes around Rs 6 lakh.

It added that due to Hasin Jahan’s financial Inabilities, she was not able to admit her daughter to a reputed school similar to the school where the children of other Indian cricketers study.

Hasin Jahan’s counsel urged the Calcutta High Court to consider the grant of interim monetary relief in view of Mohammed Shami’s financial capacity, his actual income, standard of living and the spiralling inflation rates.

On the other hand, Mohammed Shami’s lawyer contended that Hasin Jahan has purchased properties from the income of her modelling assignments, acting and business and has falsely depicted herself to be a destitute person.

After hearing the submissions, the Justice Mukherjee-led Bench opined, “[T]he quantum of interim monetary relief as fixed by the Court below requires revision. The opposite party/husband’s income, financial disclosure and earnings established that he is in a position to pay a higher amount. The petitioner's wife, who has remained unmarried and is living independently with the child, is entitled to a levelled maintenance that she enjoyed during her continuance of marriage and which reasonably secures her future as well as the future of the child.”

In her appeal, Hasin Jahan prayed for monetary relief, including an interim monetary relief to the tune of Rs 7 lakh per month for herself and Rs 3 lakh for her minor daughter from Mohammed Shami.

As per her original application under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, Hasin Jahan and her minor daughter were allegedly subjected to enormous physical as well as mental torture by Mohammed Shami and his family members.

Following Hasin Jahan’s complaint, an FIR was also lodged against Mohammed Shami and his family members under Sections 498A, 328, 307, 376, 325, read with 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

In 2014, Hasin Jahan married Mohammed Shami, following the Islamic rituals and customs, and a year later, the couple was blessed with a female child. This was the second marriage of Hasin Jahan, and from her previous marriage, she had two daughters.

--IANS

pds/dan