The answer depends entirely on which statute you are under, which is why this question produces so much confusion.
Where a husband can claim
Sections 24 and 25 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 are gender neutral. Section 24 covers maintenance pendente lite and expenses of the proceeding for "the wife or the husband", and Section 25 covers permanent alimony on the same footing, allowing an order on the application of "either the wife or the husband" for a gross sum or a monthly or periodical sum for a term not exceeding the life of the applicant, having regard to the income and property of both sides and the conduct of the parties. Section 25 also lets the payment be secured by a charge on the respondent's immovable property, allows either party to seek variation on a change of circumstances, and allows the order to be rescinded if the party receiving it remarries. So a husband who genuinely has no independent income sufficient for his support can apply, and the same sixty day proviso in Section 24 applies to his application as to hers.
Where he cannot
Section 144 BNSS, which replaced Section 125 CrPC, provides for a wife, children and parents. A husband is not within it. Nor is the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act available to him, and the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act provision for a spouse operates in favour of the wife: Section 18 confers the right on a Hindu wife.
The Special Marriage Act, 1954 also does not help him, and this catches people out because they assume the secular statute must be the neutral one. It is the other way round. Section 36 provides for alimony pendente lite on the application of the wife, ordering the husband to pay, and Section 37 provides for permanent alimony by an order that the husband secure maintenance to the wife. A couple married under the Special Marriage Act therefore does not have the neutral wording that Sections 24 and 25 of the Hindu Marriage Act give a Hindu couple. Which statute you married under is the first question to answer before drafting anything. The guide on whether a husband can claim maintenance from his wife sets the provisions out side by side.
One route does stay open regardless. Section 144(1)(d) BNSS allows a father or mother unable to maintain themselves to claim from a child, and the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007 gives an older man a tribunal to go to. A husband with no claim against his wife may still have one against adult children.
Courts scrutinise these claims closely, and the decisive factor is almost always earning capacity rather than current earnings. An able-bodied, qualified, employable husband who has chosen not to work will generally not succeed. Genuine incapacity through illness or disability, or a real and provable disparity where the wife has substantial income and the husband does not, is a different matter and such orders have been made.
Where a husband can and cannot claim
- Sections 24 and 25 of the Hindu Marriage Act are worded neutrally, so a husband may claim interim maintenance and permanent alimony under them.
- Section 144 BNSS is not neutral, and a husband has no claim under it.
- The Domestic Violence Act protects an aggrieved woman, so monetary relief under it is not open to a husband.
- He must show he has no independent income sufficient for his support, and that is a demanding threshold where he is able-bodied and employable.
- Disability, illness or established incapacity is where such claims realistically succeed.
What evidence matters
- Medical records where incapacity is pleaded
- An honest affidavit of assets and liabilities in the Rajnesh v. Neha format, which both parties must file regardless of who is claiming
- Employment history, qualifications, and a credible explanation of the loss of income
- Proof of the wife's income and assets, obtained through discovery, summons to her employer or the public filings of any company she is associated with, because the claim fails on her capacity as much as on his need
- Documented expenditure: rent, medical costs, treatment plans, loan repayments, dependants he actually supports
The application is filed inside the pending matrimonial proceeding, before the same Family Court, which in Bengaluru means the Family Courts at Nyaya Degula, H. Siddaiah Road. It is not a separate suit. Practical mechanics are covered in the answer and the guide on interim maintenance during a divorce, which apply in the same way whichever spouse is applying.
The practical reality
These applications are far less common than the reverse, but they are not hopeless, and they are sometimes filed tactically to neutralise the wife's own claim. Courts see through that quickly. If the claim is genuine, plead the incapacity specifically and prove it.
Two closing points that decide most of these matters. Plead a period rather than a permanency: a husband recovering from illness or retraining after a genuine loss of employment is a far more persuasive applicant than one asking for an indefinite award. And do not file the application in the same breath as a denial that the wife needs anything, since the two positions sit badly together and the inconsistency is the first thing that will be put to you in cross-examination. Where the claim is really about the expenses of running the case rather than about living costs, ask specifically for the expenses of the proceeding under Section 24, which is a separate head and is granted far more readily.