Saswati Bhattacharya married Sumanta Sekhar Mitra, an NRI, in 2002 with dreams in her eyes. Less than a year later, she was back in the city, alone and a mental wreck. Fighting back, she moved family court seeking maintenance from her husband. Today, she stands vindicated.
In a verdict that sends out a strong message to "truant" NRI husbands, the family court on Friday ordered Singapore-based Sumanta to pay a whopping Rs 1.25 lakh a month to his wife for her maintenance. If this isn't enough, he will also have to pay Rs 40,000 as litigation cost to Saswati in a month.
If Sumanta doesn't pay the compensation every month or tries to evade the litigation amount, he will invite more trouble for himself. "If the maintenance amount is not paid, the court can issue an arrest warrant against Sumanta," said Pradip Roy, Saswati's advocate.
What does the law say about maintenance amounts to be awarded to wives? Under section 125 of Cr.P.C., a criminal court can order a husband to provide maintenance to his wife. What makes this case unique is the amount.
"Initially, the monthly maintenance was fixed at Rs 500 and the wife was entitled to file a civil suit if she wanted more. In a listed case, in which the husband worked in UK and the women lived in Kolkata, the high court had ruled that the woman is entitled to a maximum of 20 per cent of her husband's salary. Ten years ago, the state raised the amount from Rs 500 to Rs 1,500. But, 3 years ago, the Centre left it to the court to determine the amount to be paid as compensation to the woman, based on the husband's income and circumstances of the case," said a criminal advocate.
{{/usCountry}}"Initially, the monthly maintenance was fixed at Rs 500 and the wife was entitled to file a civil suit if she wanted more. In a listed case, in which the husband worked in UK and the women lived in Kolkata, the high court had ruled that the woman is entitled to a maximum of 20 per cent of her husband's salary. Ten years ago, the state raised the amount from Rs 500 to Rs 1,500. But, 3 years ago, the Centre left it to the court to determine the amount to be paid as compensation to the woman, based on the husband's income and circumstances of the case," said a criminal advocate.
{{/usCountry}}Sumanta is the vice-president of a multinational firm and earns 11,000 Singapore dollars (Rs 3 lakh) a month.
It was possibly the dreams of a stable life that drove Saswati, a resident of Keshab Chandra Sen Street, to marry Sumanta in 2002.
The couple spent a few days at Bangalore and then moved to Singapore. But the happy days did not last long. Sumanta allegedly started torturing Saswati mentally, forcing her to come back. Saswati then filed a petition seeking maintenance on the ground that she had no independent source of income.
Judge Arup Das issued a notice to Sumanta but he did not respond. On Friday, he passed an ex-parte order.
The court order, Saswati's advocate said, will hopefully prevent NRI husbands from ousting their Indian wives after a few months of marriage and obtain ex-parte divorce decree from foreign courts.