PRAYAGRAJ, April 24 -- The Allahabad high court observed that men who feel they cannot maintain a wife and children if the marriage goes sour ought not to get married in the first place. The bench, comprising justice Atul Sreedharan and justice Vivek Saran, added that a man cannot fall back on his poor financial condition to escape the responsibility of maintaining his wife. "Once a man marries a woman, he is bound under the law to maintain her," the high court stressed while rejecting a husband's appeal challenging a family court order that granted maintenance to the wife during the pendency of the matrimonial dispute. In this case, the family court directed the appellant-husband, Tej Bahadur Maurya, to pay Rs 4,000 as interim maintenance for his wife. Challenging the order, the husband moved the high court, arguing that the court did not take his financial condition into account while passing the impugned order. It was also submitted that the family court overlooked the fact that the wife was living with another man and that the parties had entered into a mutual separation recorded on affidavit. The HC examined the impugned order and noted that the family court had properly considered these allegations. The bench took into account the claim of the respondent-wife that she had to bear the burden of maintaining her children and was without any source of independent income. Against this backdrop, the bench agreed with the trial court's order and opined that, keeping in view the cost of living today, it could not be said that the amount was excessive or unaffordable for the appellant. The court also refused to accept the appellant's argument that he was only a labourer, as no further information relating to the same had been given to the court. "...once a man marries a woman, he is bound under the law to maintain her. Such of those who feel that they cannot maintain a wife and children if the marriage goes sour, ought not to get married in the first place at all, but having done so, they cannot fall back on their poor financial condition to escape the responsibility of maintaining their wives during the course of the trial," the bench observed. The court dismissed the appeal by an order dated April 7....