Calcutta High Court Imposes 10K Costs On Man Who Claimed His Wife Had Gone Missing After 'Dumping' Her & Their Child At Her Parents' House

The Calcutta High Court has imposed a cost of Rs 10,000 on a man who claimed that his wife had gone missing and was having an illicit affair after himself 'dumping her' and their minor child at his in-laws' house.

A single bench of Justice Jay Sengupta held:

The categorical stand taken by the petitioner in the writ petition and before the police authorities about going missing of his wife is in direct contradiction with the information that is being provided today. The difference becomes more stark when read in the light of the report filed by the State. The petitioner cannot feign ignorance about the actual facts and yet, try to set criminal law in motion with a distorted version. The petitioner is not coming with clean hands. This Court finds no merit in this application. Accordingly, the writ petition is dismissed with a cost of Rs.10,000/-

It was submitted by the petitioner that his wife had gone missing a few days ago after he had taken her to his in-laws' house. 

It was argued that when he went back to enquire about his wife, there was no information given and he subsequently learned that his wife was "going around with another person...they were caught red-handed and married off."

Counsel for the State filed a report detailing that the petitioner used to torture his wife and had a habit of dumping her and his child at their in-laws' place. It was stated that the last such occurrence was two years ago.

It was submitted that the family of the wife was very poor, so they could not sustain both her and the child and thus married her off, after which the petitioner was trying to scandalise the events and derive a benefit out of his misdeeds. 

In recording the State's report, the Court noted that the petitioner's account of his wife going missing was in stark contrast to the information being provided by the State and that the petitioner could not feign ignorance to misuse criminal law based on distorted facts.

Accordingly, the plea was dismissed with the imposition of costs on the petitioner. 

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Cal) 9

Case: Bapan Mondal -versus The State of West Bengal & Ors.

Case No: W.P.A. 215 of 2024

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