Question

Which provision of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), 1973, provides a summary legal remedy for the maintenance of spouses, children, and parents who are unable to support themselves?

• A. Section 125
• B. Section 320
• C. Section 144
• D. Section 107

Hint:

Whenever maintenance of wife, children, or parents is asked in objective examinations, immediately associate it with Section 125 CrPC. It is one of the most frequently tested provisions in family and criminal procedure law.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is A

Matching the subject matter of each cited section to the question's description, a summary maintenance remedy for spouses, children, and parents, quickly narrows the field to one provision.

1. Section 320: governs compounding of offences, not maintenance.
2. Section 144: governs urgent preventive orders for nuisance or danger, not maintenance.
3. Section 107: governs security for keeping the peace, not maintenance.
4. Section 125: is the dedicated maintenance provision, letting a Magistrate order a person with sufficient means to pay maintenance to a wife, child, or parent unable to maintain themselves, through a quick, summary procedure available regardless of the parties' religion.

Because none of the other three sections has anything to do with maintenance, while Section 125 is built specifically for that purpose, it is the correct provision.

Answer 2

Section 107 and Section 125 are sometimes lumped together as general protective provisions of the CrPC, but comparing their actual purposes shows they serve very different ends, which helps confirm the answer here.

1. Section 107: this provision lets a Magistrate require a person to execute a bond for keeping the peace when there is apprehension that the person may commit a breach of the peace or disturb public tranquillity; its concern is preventing future public disorder, not supporting a dependent family member.
2. Section 125: this provision instead addresses private family obligations, allowing a wife, a minor or disabled child, or a parent who cannot maintain themselves to obtain a maintenance order against a person with sufficient means who has neglected them. Its concern is preventing destitution within the family, not public order.
3. Section 320 and Section 144: neither of these touches family support either; one concerns settling criminal charges between parties, and the other concerns urgent action against public nuisance or danger, both far removed from maintenance.

Once Section 107's public-order purpose is separated from Section 125's private maintenance purpose, and the two unrelated sections are set aside, Section 125 stands out as the provision that supplies the summary maintenance remedy described in the question.

Therefore, the correct answer is Section 125.