VEENA ALIAS ARTI Vs. PAWAN KUMAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS petition has been filed by the wife under Section 24 of the Code of Civil Procedure for the transfer of the petition filed by her husband-respondent under Section 9 of the Hindu Marriage Act (for short the Act) pending in the court of Additional Civil Judge (Sr. Divn.), Sultanpur Lodhi to a court of competent jurisdiction at Amritsar.

(2.) PARTIES to this petition were married in accordance with Hindu rites on 10.10.1992 at Amritsar. A son was born out of this wedlock on 24.8.1994 and thereafter a daughter on 25.9.1995. It is alleged that on 22.5.1996 the petitioner was given merciless beating and was turned out from her matrimonial house and that she is now residing with her parents along with the two minor children at Amritsar. Father of the petitioner is stated to be a washerman with no means and is said to be feeding the petitioner and her minor children with great difficulty. On 30.7.1996, the respondent-husband filed a petition under Section 9 of the Act for restitution of conjugal rights titled Pawan Kumar v. Veena which is pending in the court of Additional Civil Judge (Sr. Divn.), Sultanpur Lodhi. The petitioner, too, has filed a petition under Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure for the grant of maintenance to her and to the two minor children which is pending in the court of Judicial Magistrate 1st Class, Amritsar wherein the husband-respondent has put in appearance. It is pleaded that since the petitioner is residing with her parents at Amritsar and has no source of income of her own, it is not possible for her to travel to Sultanpur Lodhi with her minor children and attend to the case pending there. It is also alleged that the respondent and his parents have been threatening the petitioner time and again to forcibly take custody of the children from her and, therefore, she apprehends that if she visits Sultanpur Lodhi, she may not be deprived of her minor children. Hence, this petition for the transfer of the case from Sultanpur Lodhi to any court of competent jurisdiction at Amritsar. Sultanpur Lodhi is in district Kapurthala and is about 85 kilometers away from Amritsar.

(3.) HAVING heard counsel for the parties and keeping in view the facts and circumstances of the case, I am of the view that it would be in the interest of justice to transfer the case pending in the court at Sultanpur Lodhi to Amritsar. The petitioner has no source of income and with two minor children it would be difficult for her 60 travel to Sultanpur Lodhi off and on to attend to the hearings of the case.