Section 3 of the Act provides:
(a) A reasonable and fair provision and maintenance to be made and paid to her within the idda period by her former husband. This is nothing new. Traditionally accepted view is that a Muslim divorced woman is entitled to maintenance during the period of idda.
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She has to be maintained during this period by the husband and she is also to be provided with some lump sum amount as well as the balance of her unpaid dower. However, one should note that the word is “within”, and not “during”. [Section 3(1) (2)].
(b) A reasonable and fair provision for maintenance is to be made and paid to her by her husband for her children for a period of two years from the dates of birth of such children. Does it mean that the Muslim father’s obligation to maintain his child lasts only for a period of two years after the birth of the child if the marriage is dissolved by divorce?
Under all schools of Muslims, the father has an obligation to maintain all his minor children, and Islam lays down that a father, who willfully neglects or deserts his children or refuses to maintain them, can be punished.
The father’s obligation to maintain his children is personal obligation. He is bound to maintain his children of both sexes, and of any creed or religion. This obligation exists even if the children are in mother’s custody and even when he has divorced the mother of his children. In our submission, the Act has not changed the law of father’s obligation to maintain his child and therefore maintenance of children is not within the purview of the Act.