The short answer: section 144 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), which replaced section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) with effect from 1 July 2024, lets a wife, child or parent who cannot maintain themselves claim a monthly allowance from a person with sufficient means who has neglected or refused to support them. While the main application is still being heard, the Magistrate can separately order interim maintenance (अंतरिम भरण-पोषण) and expenses for the case — and the BNSS now requires that interim application to be decided, as far as possible, within sixty days of the other side being served notice. What follows is how the claim, the interim order and enforcement actually work.
Who can claim under section 144
Four categories can apply: a wife unable to maintain herself; a legitimate or illegitimate minor child, whether married or not, unable to maintain itself; a legitimate or illegitimate child who has attained majority but cannot maintain itself because of a physical or mental abnormality or injury (other than a married daughter); and a father or mother unable to maintain themselves. “Wife” for this purpose includes a woman who has been divorced by, or has obtained a divorce from, her husband and has not remarried. In every case the person against whom the claim is made must have sufficient means and must have neglected or refused to maintain the applicant — the application fails on this threshold alone if that neglect or refusal isn’t shown.
Interim maintenance — carried forward, with a new deadline attached
The power to order a monthly allowance for interim maintenance while the main case is pending is not new; it already existed under the old law. What section 144 BNSS adds is a specific timeline: an application for interim maintenance and expenses of the proceeding must, as far as possible, be disposed of within sixty days from the date notice of that application is served on the other side. There was no comparable statutory deadline before. In practice this matters because interim maintenance exists precisely to prevent a dependant going without support for however long the main case takes — a case that can otherwise run for years. A hearing delayed well past sixty days is still possible where the court genuinely cannot manage it, but the earlier position, where an interim application could sit for months with no statutory pressure to decide it, is no longer the default.
How the amount is worked out
There is no fixed percentage or formula written into the section. The Magistrate weighs the income, assets and liabilities of both sides, the standard of living the applicant was accustomed to, and what the applicant genuinely needs. Since the Supreme Court’s decision in Rajnesh v Neha (2020), both parties must file a sworn affidavit disclosing their income, assets and liabilities — a rule the Court laid down for maintenance proceedings generally, not only under this section — and the Magistrate compares the two rather than taking either side’s account at face value. An affidavit that understates income or omits an asset damages credibility for the rest of the case, including the final hearing, so it deserves the same care as the main application.
When a wife is not entitled to maintenance
An order will not be made, or an existing one can be cancelled, if the wife is living in adultery, if she refuses without sufficient reason to live with her husband, or if the couple are living separately by mutual consent. None of these follows automatically from an accusation — the party raising it has to prove it, and Magistrates scrutinise a disqualification claim raised only after maintenance is sought, rather than one supported by evidence that predates the application.
Enforcement — what happens if it isn’t paid
An order under section 144 is not merely persuasive. If the amount ordered is not paid, the Magistrate can issue a warrant to levy the sum due, in the same way a fine is recovered, and can sentence the defaulter to imprisonment of up to one month, or until payment is made if that happens sooner. This route requires an application to enforce the specific unpaid instalment, and that application has to be made within a year of the instalment falling due — an old missed payment cannot be revived indefinitely.
How it fits with a pending divorce or a Domestic Violence Act claim
Maintenance claims rarely arrive alone. The same spouse may also have rights to interim maintenance under section 24 of the Hindu Marriage Act, monetary relief under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, or a claim under the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act. Courts set these off against each other rather than allowing the same period of support to be paid for twice — an amount already received under one order is accounted for when another is fixed. Because of that, a section 144 application is best framed with the other pending proceedings in view, not filed in isolation.
Where this leaves you
If support has stopped and a maintenance case is still weeks or months from being decided, the interim application — not the main one — is usually the more urgent filing, and the sixty-day timeline gives it a real deadline to press for. Our advocates handle maintenance applications under section 144 BNSS, alongside connected divorce and Domestic Violence Act proceedings, before the Family Courts at Saket and the other Delhi court complexes we appear at. Call 99115 44811 to discuss what you’re entitled to and how quickly it can realistically be decided.
This article explains the general position under section 144 of the BNSS and does not constitute legal advice on any particular claim. No advocate can guarantee the amount, or the timing, of a maintenance order; every matter turns on its own facts and evidence.