Spouse Concealing True Income Cannot Benefit From It: Calcutta High Court Restores Minor Daughter's ₹9K Interim Maintenance

The Calcutta High Court has held that an earning spouse who deliberately conceals his actual income cannot be permitted to benefit from such concealment by securing a reduction in maintenance payable to his minor child. Justice Uday Kumar made the observation while setting aside an appellate order which had reduced the interim maintenance payable to a minor daughter from ₹9,000 to ₹8,000...

Calcutta High Court Refuses To Quash Child Labour Case Against Couple Accused Of Keeping 15-Year-Old Girl As Domestic Help

The Calcutta High Court has refused to quash criminal proceedings against a married couple accused of keeping a 15-year-old girl as a domestic help, observing that conflicting statements given by the minor created disputed questions of fact which could not be adjudicated at the stage of a petition under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.A Single Bench of Justice Uday Kumar held...

Calcutta High Court Rejects Trial Court's Reliance On 'Vedic Marriage Mantras' To Award Death Penalty To Man For Killing Wife, Commutes Sentence

The Calcutta High Court took exception to a trial court's reasoning that the murder of the appellant's wife amounted to a “rarest of rare” case because he had forgotten the “love, affection, contribution and sacrifice” of his spouse despite the Vedic mantras exchanged during their marriage.Justice Shampa Sarkar and Justice Smita Das De noted that the trial court had also been...

“Father Expected To Be Protector”: Calcutta High Court Upholds Life Sentence Of Man For Raping Minor Daughter, Causing Pregnancy

The Calcutta High Court has upheld the life sentence imposed on a man for repeatedly raping his minor daughter, observing that the offence assumes particular gravity when the person who is expected to provide a child with “care, affection and security” instead abuses that relationship to exercise fear and control.A Division Bench of Justice Shampa Sarkar and Justice Prasenjit Biswas,...

Calcutta High Court Declines Urgent Hearing To Bengal Cricketer Abhishek Porel In Alleged Rape Case

The Calcutta High Court on Monday declined to grant an urgent hearing to Bengal cricketer Abhishek Porel in connection with a case of alleged rape on the pretext of marriage, filed by an MBBS student, with whom Porel was allegedly in a relationship. Porel's lawyer mentioned the matter before Justice Saugata Bhattacharya, submitting that his bail plea had earlier been refused on the ground that...

Not Necessary To Carry Biological Father's Name In Today's World: Calcutta High Court Allows Stepfather's Name In Child's Birth Certificate

The Calcutta High Court has directed the municipal authorities to issue an addendum to a minor child's birth certificate incorporating the name of his stepfather and altering the child's surname, holding that such alteration was necessary in the “best interest of the minor child”.Justice Raja Basu Chowdhury passed the order while dealing with a mother's plea seeking alteration of her...

'Civil Estrangement' Between Husband & Wife Turning Into Criminal Case Against Family Requires Strict Judicial Scrutiny: Calcutta High Court

The Calcutta High Court has observed that matrimonial disputes may sometimes cross the “fragile threshold separating civil estrangement from vexatious criminal litigation”, and that the institution of criminal proceedings carrying grave penal consequences against an entire extended family, following invocation of civil remedies by one spouse, demands “rigorous judicial...

Trinamool Congress Moves Calcutta High Court Against Alleged Removal Of Billboard From Party Office

Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress has moved Calcutta High Court challenging the allegedly illegal removal of a billboard from atop their party office in Kolkata's Camac Street.It was alleged by civic authorities that the billboard was unauthorised and hence needed to be removed. Reportedly, the civic authortiies faced resistance when trying to enter the building and had to use the help...

Calcutta High Court Quashes Assault Case Against Army Personnel, Says He Was Made To Endure Trauma Of Trial Based On False Police Report

The Calcutta High Court has quashed criminal proceedings against a serving Territorial Army personnel, holding that compelling him to undergo the “ignominy and trauma” of a criminal trial on the basis of a demonstrably false and vindictive police report would amount to an abuse of the judicial process.Justice Uday Kumar made the observation while dealing with a criminal revision...

Citizens' Group Moves Calcutta High Court To Hold Demonstration Against SIR

A citizens group Sangrami Ganamancha has moved the Calcutta High Court seeking leave to urgently file a petition for holding a demonstration against Special Intensive Revision held in the State. The counsel appearing for the group mentioned the matter before Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya seeking leave to file the petition. When the court asked about the urgency the counsel said, "Urgency is...

Calcutta High Court Disposes Of BJP Leader Arjun Singh's Plea After State Says 10 FIRs Against Him Were Closed As 'Mistake Of Fact'

The Calcutta High Court has disposed of a plea filed by BJP leader and West Bengal Transport Minister Arjun Singh after the state police informed the Court that the FIRs challenged by him had already been closed following investigation.Justice Saugata Bhattacharya took note of the State's submission that final closure reports had been filed in the cases.Appearing for the State,...

Calcutta High Court Denies Further Interim Relief To TMC Over Alleged Freeze Of Four More Bank Accounts By State Police

The Calcutta High Court has declined to pass any further interim order in a writ petition filed by the Trinamool Congress (TMC) challenging the freezing of four additional bank accounts by the State police's Cyber Cell, observing that its earlier order dated 9th July, which was subsequently upheld by the Supreme Court, had already permitted the party to meet its day-to-day expenses through...