Indore, May 21: A court in Madhya Pradesh's Indore has ordered a woman to pay Rs 3,000 monthly maintenance to her 78-year-old mother, whom she shunted out of her house during the COVID-19 lockdown. The septuagenarian approached the family court against her only child, alleging that her 55-year-old daughter had tortured her and thrown her out during the lockdown after grabbing all her savings.

Additional principal judge Maya Vishwalal passed the order on May 17. "Based on the evidence produced on behalf of the applicant, it is proved that the respondent (daughter) ran a shop with her son at her house. It is thus clear that she earns an income and can maintain her mother," the judge said. The petitioner informed the court that her daughter ran a saree shop at her house and earned Rs 20,000 to Rs 22,000 per month. HC on Wife's Maintenance: Spouse Who Can Earn but Chooses To Remain Unemployed Should Not Burden Their Partner With Maintenance, Says Delhi High Court

The woman's husband, who was a driver with the state road transport corporation, died in 2001, following which her daughter lured her into selling their ancestral house and invited her to live with her family. The petitioner alleged that her daughter gradually withdrew the provident fund of her husband and took the proceeds from the sale of the ancestral house from her bank account, promising to take care of her completely. She claimed that her daughter started harassing her and threw her out of the house without any reasonable explanation in March 2020 when the government imposed the lockdown during the COVID-19 outbreak. HC on Maintenance After Live-In Relationship: Woman in Live-In Relationship for Long Period Has Right to Seek Maintenance After Break-Up, Says Madhya Pradesh High Court

"We mainly argued before the family court that when a woman can claim equal rights over the property of her parents, it is also her duty to take full care of her elderly parents," the petitioner's lawyer, Shail Rajput, said.