CJI mediates in Telugu, helps couple reunite after 21 years of separation
NEW DELHI: An unusual situation conjured up an unusual response from Chief Justice of India NV Ramana on Wednesday. The first judge of the country chose to deviate from the customary norms and interacted with a couple in Telugu, counselling them, and finally uniting them after 21 years of separation.
The couple from Andhra Pradesh had been living separately since 2001 but the man was financially supporting his estranged wife and their son for the last 18 years even after he got convicted in a criminal case lodged by the wife.
The man worked in the revenue department of the Andhra government while the woman was a homemaker. A month after their separation in 2001, she filed a criminal complaint, alleging cruelty upon her by the husband.
In 2002, the husband was convicted by a Guntur trial court and was sentenced to a year in jail. The high court, however, suspended his jail term. Meanwhile, the wife moved a family court for alimony and the man started paying her maintenance in 2003. In 2010, the high court reduced the husband’s punishment to the jail term already served. The woman approached the Supreme Court for enhancement of her husband’s jail term.
In 2012, the top court tried for mediation but to no avail. Recently, CJI Ramana initiated yet another attempt for a settlement. The bench, which also included justices AS Bopanna and Surya Kant, asked the lawyers to keep their clients present through video-conferencing.
On Wednesday, the couple showed up. The wife, however, said she could not understand English, the official language of the Supreme Court. Unhesitatingly, CJI Ramana broke into Telugu. He tried to bring her to reason, apprising her of the consequences if the man was incarcerated. He listened to her side of the story too and counselled her.
Next, CJI Ramana asked the couple if they were willing to live together again. “But that, only if you assure us that you will take care of her very well. Do not forget you have been convicted and unless you take the initiative, things will not materialise,” the bench told the man, who readily agreed to reunite. The woman also nodded, expressing her wish to restart their relationship as husband and wife.
The bench recorded in its order that the two have agreed to submit their undertakings in two weeks. “Parties have agreed to live together forgetting the past differences...parties are allowed to move the applications,” stated the order.
Advocate D Rama Krishna Reddy, who appeared for the husband in the case, told HT: “But for the efforts of the CJI, it was not possible for the couple to end their bitterness and come together. A human problem was addressed by the CJI in a most humane manner.”