RAJESH KUMAR Vs. USHA DEVI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By way of this petition filed under Article 227 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner has prayed for the following relief:-

(2.) Brief facts necessary for the adjudication of the present petition are that a complaint has been filed against the petitioner by the respondent under the Provisions of Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act'). In the course of the pendency of the complaint, learned Judicial Magistrate, 1stClass, Court No.II, District Una, H.P., vide order dtd. 20/10/2022 (Annexure P-4) passed an order on an application filed under Sec. 23 of the Act, in terms whereof, the petitioner has been ordered to pay a monthly maintenance of Rs.2500.00 to the complainant from the date of the filing of the application and to provide a separate room in the shared household to the applicant with the uninterrupted access to the kitchen and bathroom. Till the time such provisions are made, the respondent was directed to pay a monthly sum of Rs.2,000.00 per month as rent to the applicant till the disposal of the petition. The petitioner herein has also been restrained from committing any acts of domestic violence on the applicant. Appeal filed by the petitioner against the order passed by the learned trial Court, stands rejected by learned Additional Sessions Judge-II, Una, H.P. vide judgment dtd. 18/5/2023 (Annexure P-6). Feeling aggrieved, the petitioner has filed this petition under Article 227 of the Constitution of India.

(3.) Learned counsel for the petitioner argued that the order of the learned trial Court as well as the judgment of the learned Appellate Court under challenge are not sustainable in the eyes of law for the reason that both the learned Courts have erred in not appreciating that the complainant was married to one Anil Kumar and there was no divorce severing the relationship of the applicant with Anil Kumar and in this view of the matter more so in the light of the documents which were before learned Courts below, no order granting maintenance etc., could have been passed by the learned Judicial Magistrate against the petitioner and the appeal filed by the petitioner deserves to be allowed. Learned counsel also argued that it is settled position in law that during the subsistence of one marriage, second marriage cannot be solemnized and in this view of the matter also the orders under challenge are not sustainable.