LexKIRTIKANT D. VADODARIA versus STATE OF GUJARAT AND ANR.
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.... . """ KIRTIKANT D. VADODARIA A v . STATE OF GUJARAT AND ANR. APRIL 26, 1996 (DR. AS. ANAND AND FAIZAN UDDIN, JJ.] B Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973: Section 125(1)(d). Step-mother-Maintenanc~laim of-From her step-son-Held : Ex- pression "mother" in S. 125(1)(d) meant only real or natural mother and did C not include step-mother who was distinct and separate entity-She could not be equated with natural mother who gave birth to the child-Adoptive mother included in expression "mother"-However, having regard to social object of S. 125 CrP.C. childless step-mother could claim maintenance from her step-son provided she was a widow or her husband, if living, was incapable of maintaining her. D Maintenance matters-Personal law applicable to the parties could not be altogether excluded from consideration. Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956: Section 20. Wife, minor sons, unmarried daughters and aged or infirni parents-Maintenance of-Obligation of a Hindir--Held: such obligation was personal, legal and absolute in character and arose from the existence of relationship between the parties-Hu.band obliged to maintain wife if he was capable of earning-He could not plead that he was unable to maintain his wife due to financial constraints-Both son and daughter are liable to main- tain aged or infinn parents including childless step-mother if she is unable to maintain herself. Words and Phrases : "mother" and "step-mother''-Meaning of-ln the E F context of Section 20 of Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956. G The appellant was a child of tender age when his mother expired and his father took respondent No.2 as his second wife, from whom S sons and two daughters were born. All of them were major and three of them were capable of maintaining their mother. The father also had sufficient means. Respondent No. 2 filed a maintenance petition against her step-son, the H 45 46 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1996] SUPP. 2 S.C.R. A appellant, leaving out all her natural born sons and husband who were well- off and capable of maintaining her. The trial Magistrate took the view ~ that inspite of respondent No. 2 being a step-mother of the appellant, she had a right to claim maintenance from the appellant and awarded a sum of Rs. 400 per month as maintenance allowance. This order was upheld by B the City Sessions Judge and the High Court. Aggrieved by the High Court's judgment the appellant preferred the present appeal. Allowing the appeal, this Court HELD : 1.l. The expressions "mother" and "step-mother" have not C been defined either in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 or in the General Clauses Act, 1897. These expressions have also not been defined by the Hindu Law or the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 or by any other Law. All that the explanation attached to Section 20 of the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 provides is that the expres- D sion "parent" includes a childless step-mother. On a conspectus view of dictionary meaning of the two expressions · 11mother" and "step·mother" in various dictionaries, it clearly emerges that there is inherent distinction between the status of a nmother 11 and a "step·mother 11 and they are two distinct and '°parate entities. The expression "mother" clearly means only the natural mother who has given birth to the child and not the one who E is the wife of one's father by another marriage. (55-D, 56-B-C] Permanent Edition of Words and Phrases, Vol. 27A, p 348 and Vol. 40, P-145; Black's Law Dictionary, 5th. Edn., p 913; The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, Vol II p 1360 and Webster Dictionary (International F Edition), referred to. l.2. A step-mother is one who is taken as a wife by the father of the child other than the one' from whom he is born or who has given birth to him. This clearly goes to show that the woman who gives birth to a child G and another woman who is taken by the father as his other wife are two distinct and separate entities in the eye of Law and in common parlance are known and recognized as real 'mother' and 'step-mother'. That being so, a woman who is taken as another wife by the father of the child cannot be gil'en the status of a mother to the child born from another woman as there is no blood relation between the two. Ao adoptive mother may, how- H ever, be included in the expression 'mother' but not a step-mother. [56-E-F] KIRTIKANT D. V ADO DARIA v. STATE 47 l.3.
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