Ishwaridevi and Others vs Neelappa

B. Veerappa, J—The petitioner/wife filed the above petition, under Section 24 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, to transfer M.C. No. 7/2015 on the file of the Prl. Senior Civil Judge, Saundatti, to the Family Court, Gadag.

It is the case of the petitioner that she is the legally wedded wife of the respondent and their marriage was solemnised on 11.02.2006 at Panchacharya Kalyana Manthapa, Gadag. Out of their wedlock, a male child was born, now aged about eight years. It is further contended that after solemnisation of the marriage, the parents of the respondent, consistently used to insist the petitioner to bring dowry and when she expressed her inability, she was physically assaulted by the respondent; the respondent is addicted to bad vices like alcohol and used to come to home late night and he has illegal intimacy with other woman of his nearest relatives. Therefore, the petitioner was constrained to file Criminal Misc. Case No. 334/2010 before the I Addl. JMFC, Gadag, for maintenance under the provisions of Section 125 of Cr.P.C. and at the intervention of the elders, the matter was settled, as the respondent agreed to take back the petitioner. Thereafter, the petitioner stayed with the respondent for three months and once again, the respondent started ill-treating the petitioner and thus, totally neglected them. Being aggrieved by the same, petitioner filed a petition in Criminal Misc. Case No. 18/2015 before the Family Court, Gadag, for maintenance under the provisions of Section 125 of Cr.P.C. and the said petition is pending. Now, as a counter-blast, the respondent has also filed M.C. No. 7/2015 on the file of the Principal Senior Civil Judge, Saundatti, under the provisions of Section 13(1)(ib) of the Hindu Marriage Act, for divorce. Therefore, she filed the present petition mainly on the ground that the distance between Saundatti and Gadag is about 150 to 200 km. As such, she is unable to attend the case on every date of hearing. She also contended that there is constant life threat to her from the respondent and therefore, she is not in a position to attend the court proceedings at Saundatti. She is having eight years old son and she is financially very poor. Therefore, she sought for transfer of the petition, as prayed for.

The respondent has not filed any objections.

I have heard the learned counsel for the parties to the lis.

Sri. Prasad Pendekar for Sri. Jagadish Patil, learned counsel for the petitioner, has reiterated the averments made in the petition.

Sri. Manjunath S. Sangreshi, learned counsel for the respondent, submitted that he has no objection to allow the Civil Petition.

I have given my thoughtful consideration to the arguments advanced by the learned counsel for the parties and perused the material on record.

The marriage between the parties is not in dispute and out of their wedlock a male child was born, now aged about eight years, is also not in dispute. It is also not in dispute that the distance between Gadag and Saundatti is about 150 to 200 km and the petitioner has specifically stated in the civil petition that there is constant life threat to her from the respondent and therefore, she is not in a position to attend the court proceedings on every date of hearing along with her eight years old son and she is not in a position to spend for litigation and travelling expenses.

The said assertions made by the petitioner are not at all denied by the respondent by filing any objections.

This Court, while considering the provisions of Section 24 of the Code of Civil Procedure, in the case of Seema alias Preeti Vs. Pramod Chandrakant Vernekar, (2004) 4 KarLJ 572 , relying upon the dictum of the Hon''ble Supreme Court in the case of Sumita Singh Vs. Kumar Sanjay and Another, AIR 2002 SC 396 : (2001) 10 SCC 41 : (2001) AIRSCW 5193 : (2001) 5 Supreme 667 , has held that the convenience of the wife must be looked into while passing orders under Section 24 of the Code of Civil Procedure.

Taking into consideration the entire facts and circumstances of the case and the law declared by the Hon''ble Supreme Court and by this Court (stated supra), this Court is of the considered opinion that it is a fit case to transfer, as sought for.

In the result, the Civil Petition is allowed. M.C. No. 7/2015 on the file of the Principal Senior Civil Judge, Saundatti, is withdrawn and ordered to be transferred to the Family Court at Gadag, for adjudication between the parties, in accordance with law.