Under Section 144 of the Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, an order for the payment of a monthly allowance for maintenance may be made by a Magistrate of the first class in favour of -

Section 144 of the BNSS empowers a Magistrate of the first class to order any person having sufficient means, who neglects or refuses to maintain, to make a monthly allowance for the maintenance of: (a) his wife, unable to maintain herself; (b) his legitimate or illegitimate child, whether married or not, unable to maintain itself; (c) his legitimate or illegitimate major child, not being a married daughter, unable to maintain itself by reason of physical or mental abnormality or injury; and (d) his father or mother, unable to maintain himself or herself. The second proviso enables the Magistrate to order interim maintenance, which shall, as far as possible, be disposed of within sixty days of service of notice.