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 1,2020

Lucknow, May 1: Six members of a family were allegedly hacked to death by another family member over a property dispute in Gudauli village in the Banthra area on the outskirts of the city on Thursday, police said.

The accused, Ajay Singh (26), went to the local police station after committing the crime and surrendered, they added.

Singh allegedly had a heated argument with the family members over a property and attacked them with a sharp-edged weapon, the police said.

The accused allegedly killed his mother, father, elder brother, his wife and two children -- a son and a daughter -- they added.

The victims were identified as Amar (60), Ramsakhi (55), Arun (40), Ramdulari (35), Saurabh (7) and Sarika (2).

When asked, Commissioner of Police Sujeet Pandey said six members of a family were killed and the accused surrendered before the police.

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News Network
February 19,2020

Bengaluru, Feb 19: Bengaluru City Crime Branch (CCB) on Wednesday raided a spa in Koramangala area and rescued six girls.

The owner of the spa is absconding and the manager has been arrested.

Further details are awaited.

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Agencies
July 22,2020

Mathura, Jul 22: A local court in Uttar Pradesh's Mathura on Wednesday sentenced 11 policemen, including the then Deputy Superintendent of Police, to life imprisonment in a case pertaining to the murder of royal Raja Man Singh in 1985.

District Judge Sadhana Rani Thakur announced the life imprisonment sentence a day after holding them guilty of the killing. Three policemen were, however, acquitted. Four men died during the trial.

The policemen were convicted under Section 302 (murder), 148 (rioting) and 149 (Every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object) of the Indian Penal Code.

The verdict comes 35 years after Man Singh was killed. He, along with two others, was shot dead in police firing a day after he crashed his jeep into the then Rajasthan Chief Minister Shiv Charan Mathur's helicopter in a fit of anger.

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