Bombay High Court
Aneesha Dutt vs Ashu Dutt And Ors on 26 July, 2023
Author: Sarang V. Kotwal
Bench: Sarang V. Kotwal
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
CRIMINAL WRIT PETITION NO.3709 OF 2022
Ashu Dutt ..... Petitioner
Versus
Aneesha Dutt
and another .... Respondents
.....
WITH
INTERIM APPLICATION NO.120 OF 2023
IN
CRIMINAL WRIT PETITION NO.3709 OF 2022
.....
WITH
CRIMINAL REVISION APPLICATION NO.468 OF 2022
.....
WITH
CRIMINAL REVISION APPLICATION NO.470 OF 2022
-----
Mr. Rohan Cama, Advocate a/w. Ayushi Anandpara i/b.
Sapana Rachure, for the Petitioner in WP/3709/2022 and
for Respondent No.1 in REVN/468/2022 &
REVN/470/2022.
Mr. Santosh Paul, Senior Advocate a/w. Mahir Bhatt,
Maithreya Shetty i/b. Wasim Ansari for the Applicant in
REVN/468/2022 & REVN/470/2022 and for the Respondent
No.1 in WP/3709/2022.
Mr. A.R. Patil, APP for the Respondent-State.
-----
CORAM : SARANG V. KOTWAL, J.
DATE : 26th JULY, 2023
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Deshmane(PS)
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P.C. :
1. Criminal Writ Petition No.3709/2022 is filed by
the husband of the Respondent No.1; and Criminal Revision
Application Nos.468/2022 & 470/2022 are filed by the wife
against the Petitioner in Criminal Writ Petition
No.3709/2022. For the sake of convenience, the parties are
referred to as 'husband' and 'wife'.
2. Heard Shri Rohan Cama, learned counsel for the
Petitioner in WP/3709/2022 (for Respondent No.1 in REVN/
468/2022 & REVN/470/2022), Shri Santosh Paul, learned
Senior Counsel for the Applicant in REVN/468/2022 &
REVN/470/2022 (for the Respondent No.1 in
WP/3709/2022) and Shri A.R. Patil, learned APP for the
State.
3. The wife had filed the proceedings under the
provisions of Protection of Women From Domestic Violence
Act (for short, 'DV Act') vide C.C. No.340/DV/2017 before
the Metropolitan Magistrate, 10th Court, Andheri, Mumbai.
Learned Magistrate vide his judgment and order dated
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16.1.2021 disposed of the proceedings by recording the
following operative part of the order :
"i. The application is partly allowed.
ii. The respondent no.1 is directed not to
commit any domestic violence of any kind
with the applicant in future. He shall
restrain himself from filing any complaint
against her and her relatives in future.
iii. The respondent No.1 shall pay Rs.30,000/-
(Rupees Thirty Thousands) per month to the
applicant and her child as maintenance and
education expenses from the date of this
order.
iv. The reliefs sought by applicant for F-1,
Beach House, stridhan and compensation is
rejected. She can approach appropriate
forum for her said reliefs.
v. This order will not affect the amount of
arrears if any standing against respondent
No.1 consequential to the interim order
passed earlier.
vi. Copy of this Judgment be given to both the
parties, free of costs."
4. Both the parties, being aggrieved by that order,
preferred separate Appeals before the Court of Sessions at
Dindoshi, Mumbai. The wife preferred Criminal Appeal
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No.28/2021 and the husband preferred Criminal Appeal
No.77/2021. Learned Additional Sessions Judge, Dindoshi,
Mumbai vide his common order dated 10.8.2022 passed the
following order :
"1. Criminal Appeal No.28 of 2021 is partly
allowed and amount of maintenance is
enhanced from Rs.30,000/- p.m. to
Rs.75,000/- p.m.
2. Criminal Appeal No.77 of 2021 is partly
allowed and the order of Ld. Trial Court
restraining the husband from filing any
complaint against wife and her relatives
stands set aside.
3. Rest of the order in the impugned Judgment
is maintained.
4. Original Judgment & order be kept in
Criminal Appeal No.28 of 2021 & its true
copy in Criminal Appeal No.77 of 2021.
5. R & P be sent to Lower Court."
5. Again, both the parties being aggrieved by the
modification of the order of the Magistrate by learned
Additional Sessions Judge, preferred these proceedings
before this Court.
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6. The brief submissions broadly made by both the
parties are as follows.
7. Learned counsel Shri Rohan Cama on behalf of
the husband, made following submissions:
i. There was delay in filing the domestic violence
complaint. The last incident was in the year 2012; and
the complaint proceedings were filed under the DV Act
in the year 2017.
ii. There was no allegation of any physical or economic
abuse. The allegations regarding mental harassment
are vague and are made with malafide intentions.
iii. The husband has meager income compared to the wife
who has considerable income.
iv. There was suppression of material facts by the wife.
v. He further submitted that learned Additional Sessions
Judge has not referred to any of the documents which
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were tendered in evidence in respect of the income of
the parties; and yet, arrived at the figure of
maintenance arbitrarily.
8. Learned Senior counsel Shri Santosh Paul on
behalf of the wife made the following submissions :
i. According to him, the husband is son of an IPC officer
and by using his clout, was continuously harassing the
wife by making various complaints.
ii. There were many FIRs lodged against the wife; and in
Mumbai, in three FIRs, B-Summary Reports were
submitted mentioning that the FIRs were false.
iii. On one occasion, the wife was brought back even after
crossing the barrier of Customs & Immigration when
she was about to board a flight with her three children.
iv. Both the Courts did not give any relief as far as the
Stridhan was concerned. According to learned Senior
Counsel, it is a settled law that the Stridhan which she
gets before and after the marriage is her own property
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and as a natural consequence, the Stridhan should
have been returned to her.
v. He submitted that there was no delay in filing the DV
proceedings because she was fighting all the FIRs and
all the proceedings against her and she was trying to
get back her Stridhan.
vi. He submitted that she does not have income on her
own but she is entirely dependent on her father who is
suffering from cancer and other serious ailments.
vii. He further submitted that the custody of two of her
children was taken away by deceit and only third
youngest son is now in her custody. The wife's parents
are spending considerable amount for his education.
9. I have considered these submissions. I have also
perused the order passed by the Additional Sessions Judge.
The order does not show that the record about the income of
the parties was perused or considered by the Sessions Court.
Therefore, the figure mentioned in his operative part will
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have to be considered based on the record of the case.
Learned Judge's observation about Stridhan being part of the
appeal proceedings in the matrimonial matter, needs
consideration because according to learned counsel for the
wife the Stridhan was never a part of the matrimonial
proceedings and hence is not part of the Appeal proceedings.
Therefore, learned Judge should have considered the
question of returning the Stridhan independently based on
the evidence before him.
10. Considering all these submissions and the
reasons mentioned by learned Additional Sessions Judge,
both the parties have made out a case for admission of their
matters. These matters require consideration and also
perusal of the record and proceedings. Therefore, I am
inclined to admit these matters. The question is about the
interim relief. To that, Shri Cama submitted that without
prejudice to the rights and contentions of the husband, for
the next three months, by way of interim arrangement; the
husband shall deposit Rs.75,000/- directly in the account of
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the wife. The submission is reasonable. Therefore, I am
inclined to take this submission into account for
consideration of the interim relief. By way of interim relief,
the order passed by the Sessions Court is required to be
stayed. Learned Senior Counsel for the wife submitted that
the husband be directed to clear the arrears.
11. Hence, the following order:
:: O R D E R ::
i. Rule is issued in Criminal Writ Petition No.3709/2022.
ii. Criminal Revision Application Nos.468/2022 & 470/2022 are admitted.
iii. R & P be called.
iv. Rule is made returnable on 26.10.2023.
v. The husband shall clear the arrears as per the order
passed by learned Magistrate in the original
proceedings.
vi. By way of interim arrangement, the husband shall
deposit Rs.75,000/- for the month of August 2023, Rs.75,000/- for the month of September 2023 and Rs.75,000/- for the month of October 2023 in the wife's account.
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viii. Stand over to 26.10.2023.
ix. If the matters are not heard and decided on the scheduled date, then the parties are at liberty to file applications for appropriate interim reliefs.
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