New Delhi: A man in Ropar has approached a court in Punjab for permission to sell his kidney to pay Rs8,000 maintenance to his estranged wife. His monthly income is Rs3,600.

While the judgment is still awaited, this unique case has generated strong demands for a "rational maintenance" in proportion to the husband's salary.

Husbands now want the judiciary to ponder over the fact that a working and well-qualified wife is an empowered woman and has, hence, no right to claim maintenance.

They have written to law minister Veerappa Moily and the Chief Justice of India, proposing a concept of three year interest-free loan to non-working spouses to enable them to get gainful employment.

"The courts should not force an unemployed man to pay maintenance. We have seen cases were husbands are forced to either sell their organs or told to beg/borrow/steal to pay maintenance. The way courts are ordering maintenance in the range Rs20,000-30,000 is completely unacceptable," said Virag Dhulia of Save India Family Foundation (SIFF), an organisation of harassed husbands.