Priyanka vs Sharanayya

B. Veerappa, J.—The wife filed the above petition for transfer under Section 24 of Code of Civil Procedure, against the husband praying to transfer M.C. No. 17/2014 on the file of the learned Senior Civil Judge & Chief Judicial Magistrate, Yadagiri, to the Family Court, Dharwad.

It is the case of the petitioner that she is the resident of Dharwad and the marriage between the petitioner and respondent was solemnized at Gadag on 13.05.2009 according to their customs. The respondent was working as Government Primary School Teacher at Yadagin. After the marriage, the respondent took the petitioner to Lagaluru and after persistent pleading of the petitioner, the respondent took her to Yadagin and subsequently the petitioner becamed pregnant and she was sent to her parent''s place at Dharwad for delivery and after giving birth to a girl child and when the child was nine months old respondent took her to Lagaluru and made her to reside with his parents. The father-in-law of the petitioner taking advantage of the absence of his son, wanted to molest the petitioner and the petitioner being horrified by the behaviour of her father-in-law immediately informed the same to her father and her father took to Dharwad. Then conciliation took place but respondent asked petitioner to reside at Lagaluru village and to attend agricultural work. The petitioner was harassed and tortured by the respondent and his parents and therefore, she returned back to her parents house and lodged a complaint to the police. The respondent completely neglected his wife and child and hence she filed Crl. Misc. No. 175/12 under Section 125 of Code of Criminal Procedure for maintenance and the Family Court awarded monthly maintenance of Rs. 3000/- to the petitioner and Rs. 2000/- to the child.

The petitioner further submitted that the respondent is attending Crl. Misc. 175/12 at Family Court, Dharwad, and subsequently when the respondent failed to comply the order of the Family Court, the petitioner has filed another application in Crl. Misc. 70/14 against the respondent and the said case is still pending on the file of Family Court, Dharwad. It is contended that after passing of the order in Crl. Misc. 175/12, the respondent has filed M.C. No. 17/2014 for divorce on the file of the Senior Civil Judge and CJM, at Yadagiri and notice has been served on the petitioner. Therefore, the petitioner being aggrieved by the action of the respondent has filed the present petition praying to transfer M.C. 17/14 from Yadagin to the Family Court, at Dharwad.

Notice issued by this Court to the respondent is served and he has remained unrepresented.

Smt Prafulla Naik learned Counsel appearing for the petitioner reiterating the averments made in the petition has contended, that the petitioner and her child who is now aged 4 years, are residing at Dharwad at her parents house and she is unable to travel alone at Yadagiri to attend the case filed by her husband in MC. 17/2014 and also contended that the petitioner apprehends life threat from respondent/husband if she goes alone to Yadagin to attend the case, which is about 469 Kms. away from Dharwad and she cannot take the child along with her as the respondent husband may snatch the child from her in order to harass the petitioner and there is nobody to accompany her to Yadagin. Further, the petitioner is unemployed and has no income and she is unable to spend huge sums towards traveling and litigation expenses, etc. she has sought to allow the Civil Petition.

I have given my anxious consideration to the arguments advanced by the learned Counsel for the petitioner.

The marriage is not in dispute and out of the wedlock a female child was born and it is also not in dispute that the petitioner also filed Crl. Misc. 175/12 on the file of the Family Court at Dharwad and the respondent was attending the said case on every date of hearing from the year 2012 till it was disposed of on 28.04.2014. Thereafter, the petitioner has filed one more application to enforce the maintenance order in Crl. Misc. 70/2014 at Family Court, Dharwad and the said case is still pending and the respondent is attending the said case. It is also not in dispute that the petitioner and her child are residing along with her parents at Dharwad and the distance between Yadagiri and Dharwad is about 469 Kms and petitioner alone cannot travel such a long distance to Yadagin on every date of hearing to attend the case and she apprehends that there is a threat from her husband-respondent.

This Court in the case of Seema alias Preeti Vs. Pramod Chandrakant Vernekar, , has held that while considering the application under Section 24 of the Code of Civil Procedure, for transfer of matrimonial proceedings, convenience of the wife has to be looked into by following the dictum of the Apex Court in the case of Sumita Singh Vs. Kumar Sanjay and Another, . Therefore, considering the entire facts and circumstances of the case and the law declared by the Hon''ble Supreme Court stated supra, this Court is of the considered opinion that it is a fit case to allow the Civil Petition.

Accordingly, the Civil Petition is allowed. M.C. No. 17/2014 pending on the file of the learned Senior Civil Judge and CJM, Yadagiri, is ordered to be withdrawn and transferred to the Family Court, at Dharwad for adjudication between the parties in accordance with law.