PRANAY KUMAR KUNDU Vs. RUPANJANA KUNDU

JUDGEMENT

(1.) I have had the privilege of reading the draft judgment prepared by my brother, Mr. Justice Subhasis Dasgupta. I am in full agreement with the conclusions his lordship has reached. However, I would like to add a few words of my own. This marriage between the parties which seemingly started on a happy note ended for all practical purposes within three months of marriage. The marriage took place on 3rd February, 2013 by registration under the Special Marriage Act, 1954. The marriage according to religious and social rites was arranged on 4th March, 2013. Why I say that this marriage started on a seemingly very happy note is because this couple had two honeymoons shortly after the marriage. On and from 19th to 25th March, 2013 the parties were holidaying in Puri. Not even a month passed. On 19th April, they were off to Shimla on a tour of Himachal Pradesh. It appears that trouble started between them during this holiday. Not a week passed after the return of the couple from their second honeymoon. On 3rd May, 2013 the respondent/wife lodged a First Information Report with the Officer-in-Charge of Uttarpara Police Station which was registered and a case under Section 498A of the Indian Penal code started against the appellant/husband. What was stated by the respondent in the First Information Report was that immediately after the ceremonial marriage on 4th March, 2013 her husband, father-in-law and mother-in-law started torturing her demanding Rs.2 lakhs as dowry which allegedly was demanded from her parents at the time of her marriage. It seems that immediately after their return from Himachal Pradesh the parties started residing in a flat in Uttarpara. The respondent stated in the First Information Report that the night before the First Information Report was prepared, the appellant had asked her to call her parents by telephone to deliver Rs.1 lakh immediately. As the respondent refused to telephone, she was physically assaulted and threatened with death. The gold jewellery and other items of furniture that were made over by her parents to the appellant's parents were itemized below the First Information Report.

(2.) Later it transpired that the holiday in Puri was incident free. Discord between the couple started in Shimla. According to the evidence of the respondent, she was kept confined by her husband in a hotel in Shimla called Pitter Hoff for 2 to 3 days and was not provided proper food. The husband kept on demanding Rs.2 lakhs as the unpaid dowry amount. The matrimonial home was the Uttarpara flat. There, she was repeatedly physically assaulted which she bore in silence. There is some discrepancy in the testimony of the wife. The evidence given by the husband reveals that the couple only stayed for one night in Pitter Hoff Hotel in Shimla. The phone call details of the wife's mobile phone reveal that she made several calls to her parents.

(3.) It also appears from the evidence of the husband (Paragraph 39) that the wife ceased to live with him after 3rd May, 2013.