The Allahabad High Court on Friday ordered a Muslim man to pay alimony to his estranged wife.
Justice S N Srivastava held that the Hindu law provides for alimony in such cases and Muslim women are also entitled to it under the Constitution.
The Constitution maintains that there cannot be any discrimination on the basis of caste, creed or religion, the court observed.
The court ordered Aslam to pay Rs 1,000 as alimony to his wife Fatima.
The court, he ruled, could grant interim maintenance to them despite the fact that there was no such specific provision under the Muslim law.
"The court cannot be a mere passive pronouncer of judgment unconcerned with the actual effective implementation," he said.
Earlier, a trial court of Ghazipur, had granted a sum of Rs 1,000 per month as interim maintenance to Fatima but Islam objected to it on the ground that there was no provision for granting interim maintenance under the Muslim law.
Fatima then moved the High Court.