High Court of Himachal Pradesh: A Bench comprising of Sandeep Sharma, J. has set aside the judgment passed by Fast Track Court and restored the judgment passed by the trail court, in which the complaint filed by the wife of the petitioner under Section 12 of the Domestic Violence Act was dismissed.
The complainant wife initially filed a complaint under Section 12 of the Domestic Violence Act alleging domestic violence against her husband and in-laws. This complaint was rejected by the trial court for want of merit in the application. An appeal was filed to the Fast Track Court, in which even though the court found no proof of domestic violence, it granted the complainant a maintenance allowance after observing that she had no independent source of income. Against this judgment, the petition was filed by the husband of the complainant.
The petitioner argued that since no evidence was led by the complainant which proved violence against him, the maintenance allowance was not tenable in law. The court agreed with the arguments of the petitioner and observed that even the appellate court was not convinced of evidence led by the complainant. Perusal of the complaint by the court nowhere suggested that maltreatment and violence was ever meted out to her. Further, neither any specific instance was reported with regard to the violence, nor any independent witness from the locality was associated by the complainant to prove the allegations. Further, the Court found evidence that the complainant left the house on her own after being caught red handed with a person, with whom she had illicit relations. In view of these findings, the Court concluded that the appellate court got swayed by emotions and ignored overwhelming evidence while granting maintenance. Consequently, the judgment of the appellate court was set aside and judgment of the trial court was upheld. [Anil Kumar v. Shashi Bala, 2017 SCC OnLine HP 626, decided on 2-5-2017]
