VINAY GUPTA Vs. SAVERI NAYAK

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The little angel 'Sadhika' came to see the beauty of this wonderful world with an honest face, simple looks and heart touching smiles. She was full of expectations that her parents would be her role models and would shoulder all the responsibilities to give her the wings of independence and allow her to grow of in an atmosphere of unselfishness. She wanted to prove herself to be the greatest gift of God with the divine love of her parents. Time rolled on. With the passage of time, her dream started shattering. She kept on wondering, fearing and doubting her peaceful existence. She saw her parents fighting for their ego forgetting all ethics of domestic discipline. She started crying,

(2.) On 01.07.2016 the opposite party filed an application under sections 12, 18 and 21 of P.W.D.V. Act against the petitioner in the Court of learned S.D.J.M. (Sadar), Cuttack which was registered as D.V. CRLMC No. 179 of 2016. It is the case of the opposite party that she is the legally married wife of the petitioner and their marriage was solemnized on 23rd February 2003 at Ludhiana in accordance with Hindu rites and customs and both of them are software professionals working in Multi National Company. After marriage, both the petitioner and the opposite party stayed at Noida, U.P. till December 2003 and then they shifted to Gurgoan, Haryana in January 2004 and stayed till 2010. During this period, it is the case of the opposite party that the petitioner tortured her both physically and mentally and one year after marriage, the petitioner and his family members started demanding dowry and the petitioner did not even hesitate to assault the opposite party demanding a son. In May 2007 when the opposite party had to undergo surgery for the removal of her right ovary, neither the petitioner nor his parents took care of her. In December 2007 when the opposite party met with an accident and sustained injury on her spinal cord and after surgery, the doctor advised her to take complete bed rest for three months, the petitioner and his family members created an unhealthy atmosphere for which the opposite party had to undergo a state of depression, leading to migraine and was often in a state of anxiety. In January 2011, the opposite party became pregnant but the petitioner and his parents did not cooperate with the opposite party. They were expecting a male child. The opposite party came to her native place at Cuttack where she gave birth to a girl child namely Mehr @ Sadhika Gupta in the month of August 2011. The petitioner did not spend any amount towards the delivery and upbringing of the girl child and everything was managed by the opposite party with a lot of hardship and agony. As a girl child was born, the petitioner and his parents cursed the child and the opposite party was not provided with any kind of care and affection. During the 21st day celebration of the girl child at Cuttack, the petitioner created a lot of nuisance for which the opposite party had to undergo further depression and agony. By the time the girl child was born, both the petitioner and the opposite party had been transferred to Bengaluru for which the opposite party left the girl child in the care of her parents at Cuttack and she was frequently visiting her. The petitioner never accompanied the opposite party to Cuttack or enquiring about the well being of the child. The opposite party was trying her best to convince the petitioner to show fatherly love, affection and inclination towards the child but she had to face the anger and merciless beating in the hands of the petitioner. When both the petitioner and the opposite party were transferred to Noida, the opposite party was subjected to continuous torture for which in November 2015, she left Noida with her four years girl child and came to her father's place at Cuttack. Both the petitioner and his parents were hurling abusive words at the opposite party, her parents and her daughter over telephone. The girl child was admitted in a school in C.D.A., Cuttack. Due to physical and mental torture, the opposite party went on depression for which in the 1st week of June 2016, the opposite party and her mother came to Bengaluru for medical checkup. The girl child had also accompanied them. The opposite party informed the petitioner about her visit to Bengaluru for medical checkup. After five days, the petitioner came to the hotel where the opposite party was staying and on 14th June 2016 when the opposite party was in deep sleep, the petitioner took away the sleeping child without intimating the opposite party and left the hotel and nobody in the hotel could guess the foul play of the petitioner. The CCTV footage of the hotel confirmed that it was around 7.40 a.m. when the petitioner left with the girl child. The petitioner switched off his mobile phone for which the whereabouts of the girl child could not be known. The opposite party lodged an F.I.R. against the petitioner on 15th June 2016 for which a case under section 363 of the Indian Penal Code was registered. The petitioner travelled via road from Bengaluru to Chennai and then he took a flight from Chennai to Delhi and after reaching at Delhi, the petitioner answered to the call of the opposite party. The girl child also talked with the opposite party and she was desperate to come back to the opposite party.

(3.) On 04.07.2016 the opposite party filed an application under section 23 of the P.W.D.V. Act before the learned S.D.J.M.(Sadar), Cuttack in the aforesaid D.V. CRLMC No.179 of 2016 praying for ex parte interim custody of the daughter and for a direction to the petitioner to hand over the girl child to the opposite party forthwith. It is stated in the application that the petitioner is working at New Delhi and he was spending fourteen to sixteen hours in his office and leaving no time to spend with the girl child and therefore, it is difficult to conceive that the child would be living in any kind of congenial atmosphere and accordingly, ex-parte order of interim custody of the girl child was prayed for.