Court makes woman pay for harassing hubby

KS Tomar, Hindustan Times, Email Author, Jaipur, August 10, 2007

IN A rare case of its kind, a woman was punished by a Jaipur court for trying to spoil her husband’s career.

Computer engineer Namrata Bangra was ordered to pay a fine of Rs 25,000 for making life difficult for her husband Ankur Bangra, who is also a computer engineer.

Additional district judge, Prithvi Raj imposed the fine on Namrata under the Domestic Violence Act, 2006.

The judge also dismissed an appeal filed by Namrata, now unemployed, to enhance the maintenance allowance being given to her by her husband from Rs 4,000 to Rs 23,000 per month.

The judge ruled that complainant used to work in a multinational company and earned big salary hence she could get a job again.

The judge said that Ankur produced two e-mails in the court to prove that his wife had illicit relations with another person. The court recognised the authenticity of the mails and dismissed her appeal.

The judgment said Namrata had tried to involve her husband in litigations and intended to spoil his career.

The appeal filed by Namrata alleged that her husband Ankur had demanded a Honda City car prior to their marriage and used to beat her regularly after they began living together.

She alleged that Ankur used to pressurise her to withdraw money from her bank and forced her to sign on blank sheets of papers.

She told the court that she had to leave her job and that the lower court had granted her a maintenance allowance of Rs 4,000 per month, which was too little. She appealed to the additional district judge to raise her allowance to Rs 23,000. In his defence, Ankur said his wife had lodged a false FIR at a local mahila police station, which found the charges baseless.

He said he had returned all the belongings and items she had brought with her when they married. Ankur alleged his wife was having extra-marital relations with her boss during her stint with a multinational company in Pune.

He produced e-mails to buttress his charge in court.

“When I came to know about the e-mails, my wife lodged a false FIR in a mahila police station to cover up her crime,” he said.

Sampat Singh, in-charge of the mahila police station, said “I had investigated this case and found that an FIR filed by Namrata was baseless. This has been conveyed to the court.”

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