Since 1 July 2024, applications for maintenance by wives, children and parents are filed under Section 144 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 — the provision that carries forward Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. The substance of the remedy is essentially unchanged; the architecture around it has been renumbered wholesale. Because orders, pleadings and judgments will cite both codes for years, practitioners and litigants alike need the mapping cold.
The core mapping
S. 125 — order for maintenance of wives, children and parents
S. 126 — procedure
S. 127 — alteration in allowance
S. 128 — enforcement of order of maintenance
S. 144 — order for maintenance of wives, children and parents
S. 145 — procedure
S. 146 — alteration in allowance
S. 147 — enforcement of order of maintenance
Each successor provision reproduces its predecessor’s essential text. The claimant categories, the “sufficient means” and “neglect or refusal” thresholds, the Magistrate’s power to order a monthly allowance without statutory ceiling, interim maintenance with the sixty-day disposal discipline, the disqualifications (a wife living in adultery, refusing without sufficient reason to live with the husband, or living separately by mutual consent), and the explanation extending “wife” to a divorced wife who has not remarried — all continue.
Points of practice in the transition
Applications pending on 1 July 2024 continue under the CrPC; fresh applications cite Section 144 BNSS. Appeals and revisions from old orders keep their old labels, which is why cause lists still carry both numberings.
The body of case law built on Section 125 CrPC — on quantum, on the meaning of “unable to maintain herself”, on income affidavits — applies to Section 144 BNSS because the text corresponds. Written submissions sensibly cite the provision pair: “Section 144 BNSS (corresponding to Section 125 CrPC)”.
Section 144(3) retains both disciplines: the warrant must be sought within one year of the amount becoming due, and imprisonment for default (up to one month per month’s unpaid allowance) coerces but does not discharge arrears.
Section 145 BNSS keeps the claimant-friendly venue options — including the district where the wife resides — and Section 147 keeps nationwide enforceability of orders.
One drafting habit to retire: “Section 125 BNSS” does not exist, and “Section 144” standing alone invites confusion with Section 144 CrPC, the old executive-magistrate power over public nuisances. Always name the code. Courts forgive the slip; opposing counsel need not.
What sits around Section 144
The maintenance jurisdiction never operated alone, and the surrounding remedies are unaffected by the recodification: interim and permanent relief under Sections 24 and 25 of the Hindu Marriage Act, monetary relief under Section 20 of the DV Act, personal-law remedies, and the Senior Citizens Act machinery for parents all continue in parallel. The familiar principles governing overlap — disclosure of all parallel orders, adjustment rather than duplication — apply with the new numbering as they did with the old.
| Topic | CrPC | BNSS |
|---|---|---|
| Maintenance order; interim maintenance; 60-day norm | S. 125(1) and provisos | S. 144(1) and provisos |
| Enforcement: warrant, default imprisonment, one-year rule | S. 125(3) | S. 144(3) |
| Disqualifications; cancellation | S. 125(4)–(5) | S. 144(4)–(5) |
| Venue and procedure | S. 126 | S. 145 |
| Alteration on changed circumstances | S. 127 | S. 146 |
| All-India enforcement | S. 128 | S. 147 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Did the test for maintenance change under the BNSS?
No. Section 144 BNSS retains the structure of Section 125 CrPC: a person having sufficient means who neglects or refuses to maintain a wife unable to maintain herself, legitimate or illegitimate minor children, adult children unable to maintain themselves by reason of physical or mental abnormality or injury, or a father or mother unable to maintain themselves, may be ordered to pay a monthly allowance. The explanation covering a divorced wife who has not remarried also continues.
Which code applies to a case filed before 1 July 2024?
Proceedings pending on 1 July 2024 continue under the CrPC by virtue of the BNSS saving provision; applications filed on or after that date are under Section 144 BNSS. In practice courts treat the jurisprudence under Section 125 CrPC as fully applicable to Section 144 BNSS, since the provisions correspond.
Where do interim maintenance and the 60-day timeline now live?
In the provisos to Section 144(1) BNSS, as they lived in the provisos to Section 125(1) CrPC: the Magistrate may order interim maintenance and expenses of proceedings, and such applications shall, as far as possible, be disposed of within sixty days of service of notice.
What happened to enforcement and alteration?
The scheme is renumbered, not redesigned. Enforcement — warrant, levy as fine, imprisonment up to one month per month of default, and the one-year window for seeking a warrant — sits in Section 144(3) BNSS (formerly 125(3)). Procedure is Section 145 (formerly 126), alteration on change of circumstances is Section 146 (formerly 127), and enforcement of orders anywhere in India is Section 147 (formerly 128).