MA Ganapathy retired as Director General of National Security Guard in 2024. He has written 112 pages, carrying 12 stories! As said, these stories are intended to convey some kind of wonderment and escape from vicissitudes of a humdrum existence, while hinting towards real possibility of life beyond life as we know it. An excerpt. […]
Read more "Whispers in the Shadows"Will a Husband, who secures a decree for restitution of conjugal rights, stand absolved of paying maintenance to his Wife if his Wife refuses to return to her matrimonial home? After having secured said restitution decree, Dinesh did nothing! He neither sought execution under Order XXI, Rule 32 CPC nor did he seek a divorce […]
Read more "Restitution of Conjugal Rights"After a few mediation sessions before Supreme Court Mediation Centre, Sandesh submitted before us, he was not interested in pursuing a mediated settlement before Supreme Court Mediation Centre. However, Rinku and Sandesh agreed to attempt a mediated settlement before a Retired Judge of this Court. Consequently, Retd. Justice S. Ravindra Bhat was appointed as a […]
Read more "Irretrievable Breakdown of Marriage IV"Hon’ble Justice J.B. Pardiwala described, ‘tenure’ is derived from Latin: ‘tenere’, which means ‘to hold’.”[1] In a ‘tenure’ what does one even ‘hold’ considering Hon’ble Justice Dr. D.Y. Chandrachud himself declares, “We may not be masters of our destiny. Nor can we control what life has in store. What we can determine is how we […]
Read more "Justice Dr. D.Y. Chandrachud’s Tenure"Chand Diwan v. Jawaharlal Diwan, (1993) 3 SCC 406 squarely covers point. We find no ground to disbelieve, fact of her previous marriage was not concealed from her present husband. A bigamous marriage may be declared illegal. But, it cannot be said to be immoral so as to deny even right of alimony or maintenance […]
Read more "Referred to Larger Bench XXXIX (Answered): Maintenance in Bigamy"Many times, Parents including Close Relatives of a Wife make a mountain out of a mole. No sooner it reaches Police, fair chances of reconciliation would get destroyed. The foundation of a sound marriage is tolerance, adjustment and respecting one another. Tolerance to each other’s fault to a certain bearable extent has to be inherent […]
Read more "Criminal Proceedings in Marriages"Supriyo @ Surpiya Chakraborty v. UoI Writ Petition (Civil) No. 1011 of 2022 My Lord, LGBTQ persons have a right to marry a person of their choice regardless of religion, gender and sexual orientation? No. A thing, an occurrence, or a practice is ‘Indian’ when it is present in India, takes place here, or is […]
Read more "The Fundamental Right to Marry"Ask me about any space I’ve occupied – castle, cockpit, classroom, stateroom, bedroom, palace, garden, pub – and I’ll recreate it down to the carpet tacks. Is it genetics? Trauma? Whatever the cause, my memory is my memory, it does what it does, gathers and curates as it seems fit. August 30, 1997. They tried, […]
Read more "Spare"The question had been floating for a while. It was January 1, 2019 when I wondered who amongst then Chief Justices of HCs, if elevated, could be our 51st CJI. January 18, 2019 – we finally received an answer. CJI No. 51 would be Hon’ble Justice Sanjiv Khanna who wasn’t ever a Chief Justice of […]
Read more "The Nature of Judicial Power: Article No. 1101"“Unlike matrimonial proceedings where strict proof of marriage is essential, in the proceedings under Section 125 CrPC, such strict standard of proof is not necessary as it is summary in nature meant to prevent vagrancy. When the parties live together as husband and wife, there is a presumption that they are legally married couple for […]
Read more "Masterly Concubinage II"Siddaling prolonged an ‘illicit relationship’, all while he was freshly married. In an agreement before a Panchayat, Siddaling agreed to change. He never did. A ‘psychological imbalance’ for the wife led her to commit suicide. Siddaling stood convicted under Section 498A and 306 and was sentenced to undergo imprisonment for 2 yrs. and 5 yrs. […]
Read more "Alienation of Affection IV"Clearly ignoring The ‘Far Outweigh’ Standard in Recovery from Employees, SC has ruled recently in High Court of Punjab & Haryana v. Jagdev Singh, [Civil Appeal No. 3500 of 2006], even though recovery from retired employees, or employees who are due to retire within one year of the order of recovery, is impermissible, the “principle […]
Read more "The ‘Far Outweigh’ Standard in Recovery from Employees II"Yajnavalkya Smriti classifies concubines into two types: (1) Avaruddha and (2) Bhujasya. An Avaruddha Stree operates under an injunction to stay at the master’s home whereas a Bhujasya is not kept in the house but elsewhere. There is some protection for an Avaruddha Stree in modern India. There is a presumption in favor of a […]
Read more "Masterly Concubinage I"It is increasingly evident, mere fact of an “illicit affair” is not “cruelty” within the meaning of the first limb of Section 498A of The Indian Penal Code, 1860. While discussing Alienation of Affection Tort Actions, I had mentioned Pinakin Rawal v. State of Gujarat, (2013) 10 SCC 48, a lesser known Judgment authored by […]
Read more "Alienation of Affection III"In 1993, when admittedly Boris Becker was not entirely focused on Tennis, a German Magazine, STERN, published an article with a picture of Boris Becker posing nude with his dark-skinned fiancée. Sports World and Anandabazar Patrika, in India, reproduced the article and the photograph. Someone in the capacity of an “experienced Advocate and an elderly person” stood his ground on […]
Read more "Boris and Barbara"Within the meaning of The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 it must be established at the very outset, the “aggrieved person”, the woman, shares a “domestic relationship”. Section 2(f), which defines a “domestic relationship”, includes within its ambit live-in relationships. Live-in relationships may very well be a “relationship in the nature of […]
Read more "Alienation of Affection II"Love triangles in a marriage can cut both ways. The ‘woh‘ can be a man too. The incident of Naval Officer K.M. Nanavati gunning down his wife’s paramour, in the late ’50s, has not been forgotten. Truth be told, it is beyond doubt, a man and a woman are both equally likely to wander, and […]
Read more "The Tandoor Murder"In some states of United States of America, perhaps 7 in all, a wife can sue “the other woman” for her wrongful and malicious acts in an ‘alienation of affection’ tort action. Though not much jurisprudential thought has been afforded to such actions in India, Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in Pinakin Mahipatray Rawal v. […]
Read more "Alienation of Affection I"
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