Priya Gour
Published on: 27 July 2022 at 18:12 IST
In a rare gesture shown by the court , the Calcutta High Court relied on the “Principle of Leniency “ towards a wife in a matrimonial issue while granting the plea of wife to transfer a divorce case filed by her husband.
The wife requested the court to transfer her divorce plea from Coochebehar to Siliguri where she currently resides ,on grounds of physical and monetary hardships being faced by her. Taking cognizance of the fact of the petitioner being a housewife and the hardships suffered by her due to odd times travels, the court permitted the transfer of the case .
The Case involved a divorce suit filed by the husband in Coochebehar after 15 days of the marriage being solemnized. Since then, the wife has been residing with her widow mother in Siliguri .
The petitioner’s counsel submitted that the she had no source of livelihood and that travelling more than 155 kilometres for the case involves unaffordable expenditure to her. Apprehensions of physical assault by her husband were also placed before the court.
Learned counsel for the petitioner further placed reliance on a previous decision of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of Rajani Kishor Pardeshi Vs. Kishor Babulal Pardeshi (2005) where the Supreme Court found that the wife was staying with her brother and neither she nor her brother had financial capacity to contest the petition at Mumbai and held that in such cases convenience of the wife to be preferred over that of the husband.
In defence ,the opposite party’s counsel placed the argument that he is a marginal income sustained contractual labourer and had medical expenses.
Although the Hon’ble Single Judge Justice Ananda Kumar Mukherjee examined the various aspects like financial and employment status of both husband and wife, the Court permitted to transfer the divorce suit to the Siliguri Court. It was opined by the Court that; “I’m inclined to draw support from the principled of ‘showing leniency towards the wife’…”
Further the Court also submitted that it was the husband who had filed a divorce suit against the petitioner/wife for divorce on the ground of cruelty.
Accordingly, it was directed that the District Judge, Darjeeling shall assign the suit to any competent Court of learned Additional District Judge at Siliguri for its trial and disposal.