‘Abusive’ husband asked to vacate flat

So that his wife and child can live in peace

In a significant ruling, the Bombay High Court recently held that an “abusive” husband can be asked to vacate the house in order to facilitate peaceful living of the wife and the child. The court has accordingly asked a Pune-based man to vacate his flat and hand over its ‘exclusive’ possession to his wife and daughter.

The ruling was delivered by a single judge bench of Justice Ramesh Dhanuka, who heard the petition filed by Jaideep Joshi (changed name). Joshi had challenged the orders of a Family Court in Pune, which had directed him to vacate the flat which he had bought along with his wife Rakhee. It may be noted that Rakhee had a major share in the house and she was regularly paying the monthly instalments of the home loan, which the couple had taken.

Jaideep had challenged the Family Court’s order and in the meantime, had brought his mother from Satara district, to stay in the flat in question. On the other hand, Rakhee highlighted before Justice Dhanuka that despite several orders passed by the Family Court, Jaideep has not vacated the flat.

Having heard the submissions, Justice Dhanuka noted Jaideep has ‘deliberately’ asked his mother to occupy the flat only to keep his wife away.

Justice Dhanuka said, “Even today Jaideep has been frequently visiting the flat under the guise of taking care of his mother. In my view, such a visit to the flat is in clear violation of the orders passed by the Family Court from time to time. He is bent upon violating the orders passed by the Family Court and wants to see that his wife is not able to execute the orders.”

“Such conduct on the part of Jaideep cannot be permitted by this Court. In my view, what cannot be done directly cannot be done indirectly,” Justice Dhanuka added.

Justice Dhanuka also upheld the ruling of the Family Court saying, “The Family Court passed an order that an abusive husband could be asked to vacate the flat to make room for his wife to enter and live in the flat along with her child. Accordingly, Jaideep is prevented from re-entering the flat with a view that his wife and child stay in the flat without any obstructions. Action on the part of Jaideep, in my view, is extremely contemptuous.”

Apart from these, Justice Dhanuka also upheld the prima facie finding of the Family Court that Jaideep has shown aggressive conduct and abusive language while speaking to his wife and had committed domestic violence.