Bombay HC: Can't divorce wife for pushing condom use

May 4, 2012
Mumbai, May 4: Planning when to start a family cannot be treated as cruelty, said the Bombay high court on Thursday, upholding the family court's dismissal of a man's divorce plea.

An HC division bench of judges P B Majmudar and Anoop Mohta was hearing a petition by Pradeep Bapat (30), who said that during their honeymoon his wife Prerna (26) refused to have sex unless he wore a condom and subsequently refused to conceive on the grounds that they were not financially stable.

"She must not have shown willingness to become a mother unless there was financial stability. She wanted to give the child a better life," Justice Majmudar said. "It is a mutual decision and a husband cannot insist," said Justice Mohta.

The reply of Bapat's advocate- "Why do people go for honeymoon?" - raised a few titters in the courtroom.

The judges also held that Pradeep's other grounds for seeking divorce--not knowing to cook, not being religious, not parting with salary and not folding clothes properly--did not amount to cruelty either. Bapat's lawyer said his family wanted a working graduate as his wife, who would live in their joint family and also do housework. To this, Justice Majmudar said, "A woman is not a slave. The wife is an ardhangini (a man's other half). Her right of freedom of speech cannot be taken away. You have put (common household troubles) in the plea. If we construe these as cruelty, then no marriage will be safe."

Observing that Bapat's family was "conservative" and "full of perfection", Justice Majmudar said, "You (Prerna) should not have selected this house."

Her advocate replied, "She was the eldest (child) and unless she married, her younger sister would not have been able to do so either."

Justice Majmudar said, "Girls are still treated as a burden on parents. A girl must know to which family she is going (after marriage)."

In their order, the judges said the case was an eye-opener for those who were yet to marry. They said that especially in the case of arranged marriages, the prospective husband and wife should get to know each other and see if they could live happily together. "It is the duty of (both sets of) parents to consider various aspects before the actual marriage takes place."

The judges were told that Prerna was willing to return to her marital home, but Bapat did not want her back. The couple married in February 2007; Prerna left her marital home in June the same year.

The judges noted that in a short span of time, the relationship between Prerna and Bapat had become strained. Also, Prerna was "subjected to ill-treatment" and Bapat "treated her as if she was on probation". "A girl coming into an entirely new atmosphere would have expected love and affection. The husband and his family are required to see to it that a (newly) married woman does not feel that she has come to an absolutely strange place," the judges said.

cndm


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News Network
May 6,2020

Bengaluru, May 6: Central Crime Branch Police have nabbed 71 people involved in various crimes taking advantage of Lock-down which prevents movement of people in the street and seized stolen properties worth about Rs 1.70 crore, official said on Wednesday.

Police said that in all 56 cases were booked. In all 17,312 duplicate Sanitisers, 2000 lts of Chemicals, 18,750 fake Masks, 270 Thermometers and two cars were seized from the arrested culprits.

During the raid godowns where rice and dal meant for free distribution during lock-down were robbed and stored were also seized.

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Agencies
June 5,2020

Thiruvananthapuram, Jun 5: One man has been arrested in connection with the death of a pregnant elephant in Palakkad district here, Kerala Forest Minister K Raju said on Friday.

"One accused identified as Wilson has been arrested in connection with the case. More people are involved. The process to arrest all the accused is underway. Strict action will be taken in the matter to ensure such incidents are not repeated in the future," Raju told reporters here.

The elephant had died in Palakkad district on May 27 after it ate a pineapple stuffed with crackers and forest officials said that it died standing in river Velliyar after it suffered an injury in its lower jaw.

Raju said that the forest department has appointed three teams to probe the matter, and added that police are also investigating the incident as explosives were used.

"There may be some type of crackers inside the fruit. In such cases, blast occurs and the animal can not even drink water. The primary post mortem reports said that this case is like that. Let it be investigated," he said.

"Man and animal conflict is natural in our state as people residing close to the forests. The government gives compensation for farmers, Rs 10 lakhs compensation if a person dies in an animal attack," the Minister added.

The death of the pregnant elephant has sparked a controversy, with Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan terming the unfortunate death as "a painful thing" and Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar saying that the Centre has taken a "serious note" of the incident.

According to the preliminary post-mortem report, the immediate cause of the death of the female elephant was drowning followed by inhalation of water leading to lung failure.

The elephant was seen standing in the river with its mouth and trunk in the water for some relief from the pain after the explosive-filled fruit exploded in its mouth.

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News Network
February 10,2020

Mumbai, Feb 10: Ankita Pisudde, a resident of Hinganghat town in Wardha, was critical after sustaining 40% burns on February 3 when she was set afire, allegedly by one Vikesh Nagrale (27) while she was on her way to college.

The 25-year-old woman lecturer who was set on fire by a stalker in Maharashtra’s Wardha district last week died at a hospital in Nagpur on Monday morning, a police official said.

Ankita Pisudde, resident of Hinganghat town in Wardha, had been critical after sustaining 35 to 40% “grade III” burns on February 3 when she was set afire allegedly by one Vikesh Nagrale (27) while she was on way to her college, they said.

She was undergoing treatment at the Orange City Hospital & Research Centre here, located around 75 km from Wardha.

“Doctors at the hospital declared her dead at 6.55 a.m. today,” Hinganghat’s police inspector Satyaveer Bandiwar said.

The woman sustained deep burn injuries on scalp, face, right upper limb, left hand, upper back, neck and eyes along with severe inhalational injuries, the hospital said in a medical bulletin on Monday.

She died of “septicemic shock” after suffering from deep dermal burns along with severe inhalational injuries, respiratory distress and related complications, it said.

Around 4 a.m. on Monday, her oxygen levels deteriorated inspite of ventilator support, coupled with decreasing urine output and reduction in blood pressure, the hospital said.

As part of immediate resuscitation measures, medicines were escalated to maintain the blood pressure and all feasible steps were taken to improve the oxygen levels in blood, but the patient remained “extremely critical”, it said.

“Around 6.30 a.m., she had bradycardia and inspite of prolonged cardiopulmonary resuscitation, the patient could not be revived and was declared dead at 6.55 a.m.,” it said.

The probable cause of death was “septicemic shock”, the bulletin added.

During her treatment, she underwent tracheostomy (creating an opening in neck to place a tube into the windpipe to allow air to enter the lungs), burn dressings, debridement and escharotomies, the hospital informed.

Debridement is a medical procedure to remove dead, damaged or infected tissue, while escharotomy is a surgical procedure used to treat full-thickness (third-degree) circumferential burns.

The woman’s parents and uncle were kept informed about her deteriorating health condition and death, the hospital said, adding that the body was later handed over to police for postmortem and other formalities.

After the woman’s condition deteriorated, the hospital informed about her critical status to Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, Wardha Guardian Minister Sunil Kedar, Nagpur Divisional Commissioner Sanjeev Kumar, Police Commissioner Bhushan Kumar Upadhyay, Wardha Collector Vivek Bhimanwar and Wardha Superintendent of Police Basavraj Teli.

Heavy security was deployed in Hinganghat to avoid any law and order problem following her death, the police said.

Several locals, mostly women and college students, took out a march in Wardha city last Thursday, demanding death penalty for the accused.

Home Minister Deshmukh visited the hospital on Tuesday and announced that the accused’s trial would be fast-tracked.

The State government last week flew Navi Mumbai-based National Burns Centre director Sunil Keswani to Nagpur to supervise the woman’s treatment.

It has also appointed well-known lawyer Ujjwal Nikam as special public prosecutor in the case.

According to the victim’s relatives, Nagrale, who was arrested within hours of the incident on February 3, had been harassing her for quite some time.

Nagrale and the woman were friends till two years ago when she severed ties with him due to his “irrational behaviour”, the police earlier said.

A special team led by Deputy Superintendent of Police Trupti Jadhav will probe the case, the Wardha Police said last week.

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