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In The High Court At Calcutta
18-07- Civil Revisional Jurisdiction
2017
sh-7 CO 2070 of 2017
. Nibedita Mukherjee
v.
Joseph Bikash Bagh
Mr. Fazle Rabi
… for the petitioner.
Ms. Ameena Kabir
… for the opposite party.
In this application under Section 24 of the Code of
Civil Procedure, 1908 the petitioner/wife has prayed for,
transfer of the matrimonial suit filed by the opposite
party/husband and pending before the Court of the
learned Additional District Judge, Fast Track Court(II) at
Sealdah to the learned Additional District Judge at
Bolpur, Birbhum.
It is the case of the petitioner that after being
compelled to leave the matrimonial home she is presently
residing at Bolpur and she has very recently joined as a
primary teacher of a government school at Bolpur. Before
filing of the matrimonial suit she had already filed a
proceeding under Section 125 Criminal Procedure Code,
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1973 before the learned Additional Chief Judicial
Magistrate, Bolpur, Birbhum and an application for
execution of an order passed in the said Section 125
proceeding is pending before the learned Additional Chief
Judicial Magistrate, Birbhum and the opposite party who
is contesting the said proceeding has also filed an
application under Section 127 of the Criminal Procedure
Code which is also pending before the appropriate Court
at Bolpur. A proceeding under Section 498A and Sections
3 /4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act initiated against the
opposite party is also pending before the learned Chief
Judicial Magistrate at Bolpur, Birbhum and the opposite
party is also contesting the said proceeding. According to
the petitioner, she will face great hardship to contest the
matrimonial suit before the learned Additional District
Judge, Fast Track Court(II) at Sealdah by travelling the
long distance of more than 150 kilometers each way
between Bolpur and Sealdah. In support of the prayer
made by the petitioner reliance was also placed on the
decision of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Tejalben v.
Mihirbhai Bharatbhai Kothari, reported in AIR 2016 SC
718.
A copy of the revisional application was served upon
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the opposite party and he is represented by Ms. Ameena
Kabir. Ms. Kabir submitted that if the matrimonial suit is
transferred to the Court of the learned Additional District
Judge, Bolpur, Birbhum the opposite party will face
difficulty because in order to contest the criminal
proceeding and to proceed with the matrimonial suit he
has to obtain frequent leave for a long period from the
school where he is employed as a teacher.
Having considered the facts of the case and in view
of the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of
Tejalben(supra), I find that when the criminal proceedings
initiated by the present petitioner are already pending
before the competent Courts at Bolpur and the opposite
party has been contesting the said proceeding without any
difficulty, the petitioner has substantiated a ground for
transfer of the matrimonial suit as prayed for in this
application. This view is fortified by the decision of the
Supreme Court in the case of Tejalben (supra).
Accordingly, the Matrimonial Suit No. 73 of 2016
( Joseph Bikash Bagh v. Nibedita Mukherjee) is withdrawn
from the Court of the learned Additional District Judge,
Fast Track Court(II) at Sealdah and the same is
transferred to the Court of the learned Additional District
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Judge at Bolpur, Birbhum.
The learned Additional District Judge, Fast Track
Court (II) at Sealdah is directed to forthwith transmit all
the records of the Matrimonial Suit No. 73 of 2016
( Joseph Bikash Bagh v. Nibedita Mukherjee) to the Court
of the learned District Judge, Birbhum, who shall, in turn,
transmit the same to the Court of the learned Additional
District Judge, Bolpur, Birbhum.
It appears that the petitioner has not yet filed her
written statement in the suit. The petitioner is directed to
file her written statement in the matrimonial suit, before
the transferee Court within a period of two weeks from the
date of receipt of the notice of arrival of the records of the
matrimonial suit.
In the facts of the present case, the learned
Additional District Judge, Bolpur, Birbhum is requested to
make an endeavour for expeditious disposal of the
matrimonial suit, preferably within a period of six months
from the date of receipt of the matrimonial suit. The
learned Additional District Judge, Bolpur, Birbhum is also
requested to dispose of the matrimonial suit by way of day
to day hearing, subject to the convenience of the Court.
With the above directions, CO 2070 of 2017 stands
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disposed of. However, there shall be no order as to costs.
Certified website copies of the order, if applied for,
be urgently made available to the parties on usual
undertaking.
(Ashis Kumar Chakraborty, J)