Bombay High Court
Ashish S/O Sudhakar Lokhande vs Shraddha W/O Ashish Lokhande And ... on 3 March, 2021
Bench: V.M. Deshpande
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
NAGPUR BENCH AT NAGPUR
CRIMINAL REVISION NO.45/2020
Ashish s/o Sudhakar Lokhande,
aged about 30 years, Occ. Nil,
r/o Tapovan Road, Yogiraj Nagar,
Amravati, Tq. Dist. Amravati. .....APPLICANT
...V E R S U S...
1. Shraddha w/o Ashish Lokhande,
aged about 28 years, Occ. Service.
2. Pradumna s/o Ashish Lokhande,
aged 7 months,
Being minor through legal guardian
mother i.e. non applicant no.1.
Both r/o c/o Shri Krushnarao
Bhishnurkar, near Sai Flour Mill,
and Ashirwad School, Zingabai Takli,
Godhani Road, Nagpur-30, Tq. Dist.
Nagpur (City), Dist. Nagpur. ...NON APPLICANTS
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Mr. S. B. Gandhe, Advocate for applicant.
Mr. M. M. Kalar, Advocate for non applicants.
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CORAM:- V. M. DESHPANDE, J.
DATED :- 03.03.2021.
ORAL JUDGMENT
1. Rule. Rule is made returnable forthwith. Heard finally
by consent of learned counsel for the parties.
Heard Mr. Gandhe learned counsel for applicant and
Mr. Kalar, learned counsel for non applicants.
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2. This revision is directed against the order passed below
Exh.6 in Petition No. E-662/2018 dated 03.01.2020 by learned
Judge, Family Court No.4, Nagpur whereby learned Judge, Family
Court, Nagpur has allowed application for interim maintenance
pending main proceeding before the said Court.
3. Submission of learned counsel for applicant is that
without ascribing any reason, learned Judge has granted interim
maintenance from the date of application. He also submits that no
evidence is produced on record to show that applicant is serving
as Manager in the bank as stated in the application. He, therefore
submits that the revision be allowed.
Per contra, learned counsel for non applicant supported
the reasoning given by the learned Court.
4. It is not in dispute that applicant and non applicant
no.1 are husband and wife and their marriage is still subsisting.
Their marriage took place on 21.02.2017 and on 20.06.2018, non
applicant no.2 was born. It is also not in dispute that non
applicant no.2, whose age is shown as seven months, is staying
with non applicant no.1.
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5. Non applicants filed an application under Section 125
of the Code of Criminal Procedure before Family Court, Nagpur
claiming maintenance from applicant. Said application is
registered as Petition E-662/2018. In the said proceeding, non
applicants filed an application (Exh.-6) and prayed that pending
main proceedings, they be awarded maintenance. The main
proceedings are contested by applicant by filing written statement
(Exh.-16). The applicant also filed pursis Exh.-17 thereby adopted
his written statement as reply to the application for interim
maintenance. In the written statement, factum of marriage is not
at all disputed. Similarly, paternity of non applicant no.2 is also
not disputed by the applicant.
6. As per non applicants, the applicant is working as
Manager in Navin Subhedar Sahakari Bank, Amravati and is
drawing monthly salary of Rs.30,000/-. This aspect is specifically
denied by the applicant in the written statement. In addition to
that, it is his case that non applicant no.1 is working in one private
company and is drawing Rs.10,000/- per month.
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7. At this stage, it would be useful to refer order passed
by learned Judicial Magistrate First Class, Nagpur in Misc.
Criminal Application No.4203/2018. Order is dated 04.10.2019
and this order is passed in the application for grant of interim
relief as envisaged under Section 23 of the Protection of Women
From Domestic Violence Act, 2005. The non applicant has filed
proceedings under the said Act and vide order dated 04.10.2019,
the prayer made by the non applicants therein was allowed by
learned Magistrate and the applicant herein was directed to pay
maintenance of Rs.2,000/- per month to the applicants as interim
maintenance from the date of the application i.e. 29.11.2018 till
disposal of the proceedings.
8. The contention on behalf of learned counsel that no
reasons are given by learned Judge, Family Court, while granting
interim maintenance from the date of the application, in my view,
is not sufficient to term the order as erroneous. Learned Judge
will have to pass an order in that behalf at the time of final
disposal of the main proceedings and not at the interim stage. The
interim maintenance is granted pending main proceeding to save
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wife and child from starving. The applicant cannot escape his
liability to maintain his wife and child. Whether non applicant
no.1 was required to leave her matrimonial house is the matter of
evidence and that will be decided at the time of final disposal of
the main proceedings. However, at this stage, filing of report on
behalf of non applicant no.1 against the applicant with Police
Station, Gadge Nagar, Amravati upon which crime is registered
against the applicant for an offence punishable under Section 498-
A, 323, 504 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Come has its
own importance inasmuch as prima facie it shows that non
applicant no.1 was subjected to cruelty at the hands of applicant
and therefore she was required to stay along with her parents.
9. The contention on behalf of learned counsel for
applicant that there is nothing on record to show that applicant is
working as Manager with the bank, in my view, is also required to
be rejected, for the reason that the evidence of the parties in main
proceeding is yet to be started. The pleadings are made in the
application by non applicants that the applicant is working as
Manager with the bank. Of course, the said is denied in his
written statement. Therefore, that will be a point to be determined
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by the Court and parties will have to adduce evidence in that
behalf. Presently, for deciding application for interim
maintenance, pleadings play a vital role.
10. Learned Judge of the Family Court has also considered
the interim maintenance granted in favour of non applicants in the
domestic violence proceedings. In paragraph 12 of the impugned
order, the learned Judge observed as under:
"12. The interim maintenance granted by this
order shall include interim maintenance already
granted to them in Misc. Cri. Appln. No.4203/2018..."
Therefore, it is clear that interest of the applicant is also
protected by the Family Court.
11. During the course of hearing, it was informed to this
Court that Petition E-662/2018 is fixed for evidence today itself.
In that view of the matter, the Family Court shall decide the
Petition F-662/2018, as early as possible and within a period of six
months from today. Of course, parties before the said Court shall
extend full cooperation to the learned Judge.
Record of this revision shows that as per order passed
by this Court on 18.12.2020, applicant has deposited Rs.48,000/-
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before this Court and said amount is lying in this Court. Surely,
non applicants are entitled for the same.
12. The upshot of the aforesaid discussion, leads me to
pass the following order.
ORDER
(i) The revision application is dismissed.
(ii) Order passed by learned Judge, Family Court No.4,
Nagpur below Exh.-6 in Petition E-662/2018, is hereby confirmed.
(iii) The learned Judge, Family Court No.4, Nagpur on
whose file Petition No.E-662/2018 is pending, shall decide the
same within six months from today, positively.
(iv) The non applicants herein are entitled to withdraw
Rs.48,000/- deposited by the applicant before this Court.
Rule is discharged.
JUDGE
kahale
