Magistrate Can Grant Interim Maintenance Under DV Act Based on Prima Facie Satisfaction Without Formal Evidence

The petitioner (husband) challenged an order dated 16.06.2025 passed by the Additional Sessions Judge-IX, Kaimur, which upheld a trial court order dated 05.04.2024.

The Judicial Magistrate 1st Class, Mohania, had directed the petitioner to pay ₹1,500 per month as interim maintenance to his wife (Respondent No. 2) under a domestic violence complaint.

The petitioner contended the courts ignored his lack of income, his responsibility for maintaining his children, and the wife's alleged independent income from teaching.

1. Whether the Magistrate is required to consider detailed evidence of income or the respondent’s side before passing an order for interim maintenance under the Domestic Violence Act

2. Whether the orders passed by the lower courts suffered from legal infirmity regarding the quantum of interim maintenance

Section 23 of The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005. This provision empowers a Magistrate to pass such interim orders as deemed "just and proper".

Section 23(2) permits the grant of ex-parte interim orders based solely on an affidavit if the application prima facie discloses the commission or likelihood of domestic violence.

The High Court reasoned that Section 23 of the Act grants broad discretionary powers to the Magistrate to ensure immediate relief to aggrieved women.

The court clarified that for the purposes of interim maintenance, there is no statutory requirement for the Magistrate to record evidence or wait for the appearance and evidence of the respondent.

The court noted the "transient nature" of interim maintenance orders, implying they are temporary measures pending final adjudication. Consequently, the petitioner’s arguments regarding the factual merits of his income or the wife’s employment were deemed premature for a revision against an interim stage order.

The High Court found no legal infirmity or jurisdictional error in the orders of the learned Appellate Court or the Judicial Magistrate. The criminal revision petition was dismissed for lack of merit.