Under Section 144 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, a wife unable to maintain herself…

Under Section 144(1)(a) and the Explanation to Section 144(1) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (formerly Section 125(1)(a) and Explanation (b) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973), maintenance may be claimed by a "wife" unable to maintain herself, which includes a woman who has been divorced by, or has obtained a divorce from, her husband and has not remarried. In Savitaben Somabhai Bhatia v. State of Gujarat, (2005) 3 SCC 636, the Supreme Court held that the expression "wife" in this provision means only a legally wedded wife and does not extend to a woman whose marriage is void on account of the husband having a living spouse at the time of marriage (though later in Badshah v. Urmila Badshah Godse, (2014) 1 SCC 188, the Court carved out an exception where the husband duped the woman by concealing his subsisting first marriage). Rajeev Choudhary v. State (NCT of Delhi), (2001) 5 SCC 34 dealt with the computation of the default bail period, and the other two options are not authorities on this issue.