The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to Indian cricketer Mohammad Shami on a plea filed by his estranged wife Hasin Jahan, challenging a Calcutta high court’s order which granted her ₹4 lakh monthly maintenance, even as the bench remarked that the amount appeared “quite reasonable”.
The couple had gotten married in 2014, however, they separated in 2018 after Hasin Jahan filed an FIR against Mohammed Shami, alleging domestic violence and abuse, followed by a long legal battle. (File Photo/Facebook/Mohammed Shami)
The petition, citing Shami’s lifestyle and his A-list national cricketer status that makes him a high-net worth individual, challenged the July 1 order passed by the Calcutta HC that fixed ₹1.5 lakh as maintenance for the wife and ₹2.5 lakh for their daughter, to be paid every month. Later, a division bench upheld this order on August 25. Both orders have been challenged in the current appeal.
“Why have you filed this? Isn’t ₹4 lakh per month quite handsome?” the SC bench of justices Manoj Misra and Ujjal Bhuyan said.
Earlier, the trial court had directed Shami to pay ₹80,000 per month towards his daughter’s monthly maintenance and ₹50,000 for Jahan. This was challenged by the latter before the high court, which then increased the amounts.
Appearing for Jahan, senior advocate Shobha Gupta and advocate Sriram Parakatt said that Shami’s income was far greater than the maintenance amount fixed by the court.
“The Respondent No. 2 (Shami) is living a lavish life and is deliberately manipulating the courts for the sole purpose of not providing equitable amount of maintenance to the petitioner and minor daughter,” she said, citing that his monthly expense is over ₹1.08 crore as per an affidavit filed by Shami in the high court. His net worth is estimated to be about ₹500 crore, the petition claimed, adding that the wife is unemployed since her marriage and has no independent source of income to meet her daily needs and that of her child.
“If you want to mediate and settle, we can issue notice,” the bench remarked, while issuing notice to Shami and posting the matter after four weeks.
The wife had moved the top court in September. In her petition filed through advocate Deepak Prakash, she said, “There exists a stark financial disparity between the parties, wherein the respondent (Shami), despite having all the means to provide a reasonable lifestyle to the petitioner and his daughter, is deliberately and tactfully failing to do the same. The respondent is leading an ultra-luxurious lifestyle, while deliberately leaving the wife and the minor daughter to suffer in penury.”
Shami is already facing trial in a criminal case filed by Jahan in West Bengal’s Jadavpur in 2018, alleging extreme cruelty caused by the cricketer and his family. The wife said that she chose to file her petition in the top court and the high court in the name of “X” as she is facing death threats for pursuing the case. She has separately also moved the trial court seeking relief under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005.
The high court in its July 1 order, while fixing the interim maintenance, said, “In my considered opinion, a sum of ₹1,50,000 per month to the petitioner wife and ₹250,000 to her daughter would be just, fair, and reasonable to ensure financial stability for both the petitioners, till disposal of the main application.”
As per Jahan, Shami is also liable to pay past arrears of maintenance to the tune of over ₹2.4 crore, a figure that the cricketer has disputed. The high court had directed him to clear the pending arrears in eight monthly installments beginning from September. The trial court had first directed maintenance in the year 2018 which was enhanced by the HC on the wife’s appeal.