Anita Chaudhry, J. - (1.) (Oral) - This revision petition has been filed by the petitioner against the order dated 09.05.2014 vide which the petitioner had been sentenced to undergo imprisonment for a period of twelve months as he failed to pay the arrears of maintenance.
(2.) Interim bail was allowed to the petitioner subject to deposit of Rs. 50,000/-. The petitioner is presently on bail.
(3.) Learned counsel for the petitioner states that petitioner is regularly paying Rs. 10,000/- till the arrears are cleared as was stated on 10.07.2015. He further states that thereafter he would be paying the amount that had been allowed by the Family Court. He further states that the order of bail may be made absolute and the impugned order be set aside. He further states that the petitioner could not have been sent to jail for 12 months in one go. The question that would arise is whether the Magistrate could impose a sentence and send the petitioner to custody for more than a month. This question was raised in Shahad Khatoon and others v. Amjad Ali and others 1999 (5) SCC 672 . The concluding lines of the judgment are as under:- .......This power of the Magistrate cannot be enlarged and therefore, the only remedy would be after expiry of one month, for breach of non-compliance of the order of the Magistrate the wife can approach again to the Magistrate for similar relief. By no stretch of imagination the Magistrate can be permitted to impose sentence for more than one month. In that view of the matter the High Court was fully justified in passing the impugned order and we see no infirmity in the said order to be interfered with by this Court. The appeal accordingly fails and is dismissed. ;