Family court, Mumbai at Bandra

In the court of R.R.vachha

Principal Judge,

Civil and criminal cause list of date DD/MM/YYYY

-The Family court, Bandra comprises of seven floors with a court room on each floor.

-Two Marriage counselors are located on every floor next to the court room, 12 females and 2 males.

-Maharashtra has total 10 family courts located in Pune, Thane, Nasik, Kolhapur, Mumbai, etc.

-The Family Court, Bandra started functioning 27 years ago.

-There is a policeman on each floor who is known as “courts marshall”.

-The current Principal judge is R.R.Vachha.

-There are around 150-200 lawyers working on a given day.

-Every court room has-

1) Judge 2) Bench clerk3) Assistant bench clerk4) Stenographer5) Deposition writer6) Process clerk7) Hawaldar or the peon of the judge8) Court peon9) Bailiff10)Announcer

-All inter-religious marriages must be registered under the Special Marriage Act.

-Since the year 1990 every year on an average 3000 Petitions are being filed in the Family Court.

-only in the family court, one can directly file a petition if they have sufficient knowledge of the same.

-Muslim gents cannot file a suit in the family court, only females can.

-There is a “takrar peti” (complain box) placed on the entrance of the first floor.

Petitions

Petition A: Divorce and restitution.

Petition B: Injunction (asking for right to stay in the matrimonial house)

Petition C: Maintenance under the Hindu adoption and Maintenance

Act, 1956.

Petition D: Custody issues

Petition E: Under section 125 of Criminal Procedure Court

Petition F: Mutual Consent Divorce sec [13(B)] under Hindu Marriage

Act 1955.

Objectives

To study the process and procedures of divorce, such as the interval between marriage and the petition for divorce, the time taken for the decision of the judicial court, etc.

The main objective is to provide easy and speedy settlement relating to matrimonial and family affair.

To examine the perceptions regarding divorce among male and female divorcee and to access the social and legal difficulties in getting divorce.

FIRST FLOOR:

(1) Lodging department:

It is the main department where the advocates file a petition.

If a party feels that he or she is not capable of conducting their own matter then with the permission of the Family Court, the party can engage a private advocate to represent it.

The Judges, Marriage Counselors and the other clerical staff of the Family Court assist the parties to a very great extent by explaining and making them understand as to how to file a Petition, what statements should be made in the Petition, what a party should do to conduct its matter.

Requirements:

Proof of marriage (Marriage certificate, marriage invitation, marriage photograph)

Identity of parties (Marriage, passport size photographs)Consent Terms ( Regarding maintenance, alimony, child custody, property, return of valuables, etcCourt fee stamps- Rs. 100/-

Procedure:

The normal procedure in the Family court is that after a petition is filed by a party the same is presented before the Superintendent. The Petition is numbered by the Superintendent and it is then assigned to a particular Court Room along with a lodging number.

The Petition is then numbered, summons are prepared by the office of the Family Court and then it is served upon the other party along with the copy of the Petition.

After a petition is filed, three dates are assigned to the parties for referring the Marriage Counselor.

First, the Marriage Counselor hears the grievances of the parties individually. Then he/she hears both the parties together.

The Marriage Counselor, after hearing both the parties, gives suggestions to them to remove their differences and tries for reconciliation between them

If the parties agree to some solution by which they can reconcile, then they are asked by the Marriage Counselor to write down the terms for reconciliation and both the parties are made to sign the same.

If no solution is found then the case goes to the court.

(2) Free legal Aid room

This department is taken care by the government.This room is meant for those people who cannot afford a personal advocate for themselves. They get government advocates who charge a very nominal fee.

The number of advocates in this department is 13(appointed by government).

Mutual Consent Divorce:

Under this both the husband and wife are given a time period of six months to stay with each other.

Procedure:

For self identification: (passport, election card, I card)Attend court four times: (filing, removal of objection, counseling, final hearing-decree)Counseling is mandatory: (as per the family courts act)affidavits of parties: can be filed on the day of hearing (formats available at inquiry centre)certified copies of the decree: parties must apply for the same

SECOND FLOOR:

The Second floor has two departments

1) Administration and stationery department

2) Cashier

The administration and stationery department:

The administration and stationery department supplies stationery to everyone. All the printed material received from the government is supplied from here. Printed stationery and blank papers required for the courts day to day work is also made available here. In all this department has a staff of three, where the superintendent is at the highest post (Mr.Santosh Gadgil). A person should be a graduate to qualify to work in this department.

Cash department:

The cash department deals with all the cash related workings of the court. The following are the different ways in which the cashier is used-

1) The maintenance money, permanent alimony is deposited by the husband here and is collected by his wife. The maintenance money has to be deposited here monthly by the way of demand draft or pay order, the cash limit is Rs.15,000. If the husband does not deposit the money on time then an arrest warrant is issued on the husband.

2) The salaries of the family court staff .3) Building maintenance i.e., electricity charges, payments of stationeries,

telephone bills, etc.

4) Following expenses for the judges-petrol charges, peon allowance(maid, servant etc) working for the judge, telephone of judge(up to Rs.1000), electricity (up to Rs.700)

Cash department has a staff of 6;

1) Superintendent- she/he manages and supervises the activities.2) Cashier- collects cash3) Assistant cashier-makes all the payments4) Bailiff-all the bank work5) Budget clerk- preparing budget and judges bills6) Peon-carry out the work given by all above

Maintenance

Chapter 3: The hindu adoptions and maintenance act,1956Section 18;1)subject to the provisions of this section, a Hindu wife, whether married before or after the commencement of this Act, shall be entitled to be maintained by her husband during her life time.2) A Hindu wife shall be entitled to live separately from her husband without forfeiting her claim to maintenance,-

a) if he is guilty of desertion, that is to say, of abandoning her without reasonable cause and without her consent or against her wish, or of wilfully neglecting her;

b) if he has treated her with such cruelty as to cause a reasonable apprehension in her mind that it will be harmful or injurious to live with her husband;

c) if he is suffering from a virulent form of leprosy;d) if he has any other wife living;e) if he keeps a concubine in the same house in which his wife is

living or habitually resides with a concubine elsewhere.f) If he has ceased to be a hindu by conversion to another religion.g) If there is any other cause justifying her living separately.

3) A Hindu wife shall not be entitled to separate residence and maintenance from her husband if she is unchaste or ceases to be a hindu by conversion to another religion.

Section 19; maintenance of widowed daughter-in-law

(1)A hindu wife, whether married before or after the commencement of this Act, shall be entitled to be maintained after the death of her husband by her father-in-law:

Provided and to the extent that she is unable to maintain herself out of her own earnings or other property or where she has no property of her own, is unable to obtain maintenance,--

a) from the estate of her husband or her father or mother, orb) from her son or daughter, if any, or his or her estate.

(2) Any obligation under sub-section (1) shall not be enforceable if the father-in-law has the means to do so from any coparcenary property in this possession out of which the daughter-in-law has not obtained any share, and any such obligation ceases on the remarriage of the daughter-in-law

THIRD FLOOR:

There is one court room on the floor numbered Court Room 301. There are also 2 marriage counsellors on the floor. Several numerous advocates and their clients wait in the lobby for either for their turn of hearing or just sit and discuss their respective cases.

The Petition Writer named PrakashSawani sits at the entrance of the third floor filing all petitions. He types all petitions on paper and answers queries regarding petitions.

The notice board by his side has the list of cases and petition numbers they are filed under. The list also has names of witnesses to different cases.

The most recent case is that of Narendra and TruptiMakal. The case was fought in the court for about 2 years. Mrs. TruptiMakal had filed a petition under the Maintenance Act. She claimed Rs.20,000 as alumni each month. After a span of 2 years the verdict was finally declared. Mrs.Makal won the case against her

husband. But the case also declared her an alumni of only Rs.3,500 a month. Earlier, they had no formal divorce but lived separately for almost 3 years. After filing of this case, they also seeked divorce. With the verdict declaring the alumni, they were declared divorced and their marriage stood void.

The Rectification of cases takes place here. After a petition is filled, it is sent for check and rectification, then to the marriage counselor. Both parties talk o the counselor. Counsellors checks scope for settlement, otherwise the petition is continued for regular trial.

FOURTH FLOOR:

The court on this floor is Court Room Number 401. The judge in this court is Ms.M.J.Dhote.

The case currently fought is that of Mr. Anand and Mrs. SudhaKamble. They have been living separately for almost 10 years now. They have two daughters who are married. The wife, Mrs. SudhaKamble, has filed a petition against her husband under the Adoption and Maintenance Act for maintenance money for both her daughters’ wedding.

The dispute that follows is that both Mr. AnandKamble and Mrs. SudhaKamble say that they respectively incurred the expenses. But Mrs. Sudha cannot technically stand as claimer for daughters’ marriage expenses since both the daughters are major and married. Had they been minor and unmarried, then the mother could have claimed the maintenance.

The case has been continuing for the past 2 years. The sections applicable are Sections 18 and 20.

Section 18 refers to the wife’s claim for maintenance. The wife can claim maintenance for herself and her unmarried minor children. For minor children, parents are representative.

Section 20 refers to the children’s rights. Minor children require their parents as representatives. But major children do not require representatives to demand for their maintenance. But majors do not require representatives. Thus, demand for maintenance of major children is to be decided by the children themselves. The

parents cannot decide whether the major children want the maintenance or not. It is supposed to be the children’s decision.

In the case of Mr. and Mrs. Kamble, the two daughters are married. They do not want the maintenance amount. But their mother, Mrs. SudhaKamble, continues to ask for maintenance on their behalf. She is not ready to step down on her claims.

According to Section 20, the mother cannot claim maintenance for married children. But Mrs. SudhaKamble still claims. The court has not given a confirmed verdict. But according to Mr. AnandKamble’s lawyer, Mr. R. T. Lalwani, the court verdict should be in their favour due to violation of Section 20.

FIFTH FLOOR:

The floor has several rooms. Namely:

Advocates’ Bar Room 2 Marriage Counsellors Muskaan and Adolscent Guidance Center of Tata Institute of Social

Sciences Xerox Center Library Court Room Number 501

The Advocates’ Bar Room is the room where all the advocates sit and study their cases. They discuss the cases with their clients. They also have a library in there, where they can refer to previous cases and other law books.

The 2 marriage counsellors are Smt. S. S. Kapale and Smt. P. B. Jagtap, Smt. S. S. Jagtap being the senior counselor and Smt. P. B. Jagtap being the junior counselor.

They counsel clients after they file their petitions. They try for out of court settlements. In the procedure of counseling, they begin with individual counseling and then counsel the couple together. 50% of the times the case is solved out of court with mutual understanding.

The Muskaan and Adolscent Guidance Center of Tata Institute of Social Studies is a center for various books relating to children’s laws and other reference books.

Court Room Number 501 is the 5th court in the building of Family Court.

The case currently being ought is a divorce case. The name of the client is hidden on request. But she has been waiting for a divorce since 2009. Her divorce petition was filed in March 2009. After that she has had about 1 hearing a month. The verdict is still pending.

SIXTH FLOOR

It has two Departments.

Alternate Dispute Resolution Centre Pay and Establishment Department

The Alternate Dispute Resolution Centre is the department on the Sixth floor where the disputes relating to the family are resolved, involving trust issues. The trust resolves issues of the couples who have filed the petitions but their hearing is yet pending.

The cases involving the divorce are handled on the sixth floor by the main judge of the floor named Smt. V.V.Virkar.

The Pay and Establishment Department is a department all about staff. Here from Judges to Class iv are paid their salaries. All the problems of the staff are solved here. The State Government states the salary of the lawyers and the judges. Mrs. Vagal is the head superintendent of the Pay and Establishment Department. There are five people working under her.

SEVENTH FLOOR:

There are 15 people on the seventh floor including policeman. There is a judge’s chamber and four counselor’s chambers. The cases related to divorce and child support are dealed here. The highest position is held by the judge named Shri. A.O.Kolte. The Judge holds the qualification of a Law Graduate.

We saw two consecutives cases on this floor.

The first case is related with divorce petition, Mr. Dilip Meher is the petitioner (the husband) of the case and the respondent is Mrs. Jay Meher. The advocate leading the case is Sanjay Ambedker.

The husband use to work at a resort in Virar, earlier in fishing business. He used to get a monthly salary of Rs. 2000. The wife has filed a case against her husband for divorce and also to recover all her articles and belongings. She is not able to adjust with the husband’s meager salary. The Judge asked that if the husband’s salary is increased to Rs.3000 would she be able to adjust. The wife replied in negative.

The wife says that she kept her ornaments in the cupboard and the keys of the cupboard were with her.

The wife explains the reason behind her leaving the house. She says that she was forced to leave the house of her husband, the petitioner due to financial problem. The wife does not agree to adjust with her husband and wanted divorce. When the wife visited the petitioners place with the advocate and opened the cupboard the keys were found to be duplicated.

Since October 2003, the wife and the petitioner are residing separately. The wife is not ready to reside or compromise with her petitioner husband.

The wife ultimately ends up concluding that “It is not true that I have claimed a false contingent against my husband and all my claims are valid.”

The Judge finally gives his saying by telling the respondent that she, along with her advocate should go to the petitioner’s house to collect the articles which rightfully belongs to her. The next proceedings of the case are going to be after two months.

This case is related to dowry and is very complicated. Jitendra Gupta and Surekha Gupta married in the year 2006. They stayed in a joint family which comprises of three brothers. Jitendra Gupta is the youngest and works at

Jogeshwari in a service centre. Initially everything was going smooth in the family but later on there were internal fights between the couple. The reason of the internal fights were that the family had asked her to get a minimum of 75,000 as dowry or never come back. In Diwali 2006 it was Surekha’s first Diwali after marriage but still she went to her parent’s house and never returned back. She only resided for 4-5 months in her in-laws house. The reason for this was dowry. The witnesses to this case were his elder brother Devendra Gupta and his wife Sujata Gupta. “April 2007 a meeting was held to sort out the matter. She refused to come home even though we went to get her 4 times. But she dint come back. Petitioner informed me that respondent Surekha Gupta is ready to come home but now the petitioner Jitendra Gupta doesn’t want her back”. Courtesy Devendra Gupta. When the elder brother Devendra Gupta was asked whether Surekha’s uncle and aunt visited them in December 2006 so sort the matter he declined.

Sujata Devendra Gupta said that “All household chores in our family is looked after by me and my mother in law. she was in the house but never worked and did whatever she liked. In the initial year, marital life was good. After some days the respondent changed her behavior”.

The verdict is still to be declared. They have a few hearings left to check all evidences again and declare which party is innocent.

There is also an announcer on the floor named V. T. Amle.

Conclusions

Marriage is at risk –During early years of marriage –When both husband and wife is working –When both are two different religious individual

Reasons for Divorce–Incompatibility and temperamental differences –Cruelty by Husband –Adultery –Sexual dissatisfaction

More women than men are taking initiative for divorce