The Kerala High Court has held that a Muslim man cannot claim that he has no means to maintain his first wife by pointing towards his obligations towards his second wife, Live Law reported on Wednesday.

Justice Kauser Edappagath made the observation while delivering a verdict on revision petitions filed by the man against an order issued by a family court, which had granted maintenance to his first wife.

In the High Court, the counsel representing the husband submitted that he did not have a job and had no means to provide maintenance to the first wife, who ran a beauty parlour and earned her own livelihood, Live Law reported.

The counsel added that his first wife had left him without any sufficient reason in 2015 and was therefore not entitled to maintenance under Section 125(4) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which outlines this provision.

The High Court was also told that he could not provide maintenance to the first wife as he had to maintain his second wife.

The counsel also argued that since their son was already providing maintenance to the first wife, her claim for maintenance from the husband was not legally sustainable.

In its judgement, the High Court observed that a Muslim husband did not have a vested right to have more than one wife. It added that monogamy was the rule and polygamy, or the practice of having more than one wife, was an exception under Muslim law, Live Law reported.

“Polygamy for men is allowed under Muslim law only in exceptional and extraordinary circumstances, that too, under the strict injunction that all the wives must be treated equally and equitably,” Live Law quoted the judge as saying.

The foundation of polygamy in Muslim Law, as per the Quran, states that the husband must be able to deal justly with all wives, the High Court said. This term implies not only equality in love and affection but also equality in maintenance, it added.

“Therefore, a Muslim husband who contracted a second marriage during the subsistence of his first marriage cannot contend that he has no means to maintain his first wife,” Live Law quoted the judge as observing.

That a husband has a second wife does not mean that he can deny maintenance to his first wife or reduce its quantum, the High Court said.

The judgement also stated that a wife’s right to claim maintenance from a husband under sections of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita was independent of the obligation of her son or daughter to maintain her.

The High Court also said that the decision of the first wife to live separately from her husband was based on valid grounds. “The second marriage of a Muslim husband without the consent of his first wife is a sufficient reason for the latter to live separately from the former,” Live Law quoted the High Court as stating.