In TA No.549 of 2020-PUNJ HC- Case is of undue hardship of exceptional nature necessitating intervention, says P&H HC while allowing transfer plea of wife considering she had to travel long distance to attend divorce case hearing Justice Fateh Deep Singh [28-04-2022]

Read Order: Simranjit Kaur @ Simarn Kaur v. Bhinder Pal Singh

Monika Rahar

Chandigarh, May 04, 2022: While dealing with a transfer plea by a wife in a divorce matter, Punjab and Haryana High Court has granted the relief of transfer to the wife on the ground that the wife, who took care of her minor child, had to travel a distance of around 55 kms in order to attend the Court hearing. 

The Court termed this to be a case of undue hardship of exceptional nature necessitating intervention by the Court. 

This decision of the Bench of Justice Fateh Deep Singh was also influenced by the fact that the respondent-husband and his relatives attacked the wife’s family leading to the death of her uncle. The husband was thus convicted in this matter and also charges of kidnapping with ransom were levelled against him in another FIR. 

The applicant-wife Simranjit Kaur @ Simarn Kaur invoked the jurisdiction of the High Court under Section 24 of CPC against respondent-husband Bhinder Pal Singh seeking transfer of divorce petition under Section 13 of Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 pending in the Court of District & Sessions Judge, Sangrur to any other Court of competent jurisdiction at Mansa. 

The only ground taken for seeking such transfer was the distance between the two places (i.e. around 55 kms)  owing to which difficulty was caused to the applicant-wife to travel to attend the hearing.

The Court observed at the very outset that the sole ground for this plea of transfer was that the wife had to traverse the distance between the two places to attend the hearings. 

Also, the Court took note of the fact the respondent-husband along with his relatives earlier attacked the relatives of the wife and due to the injuries suffered Baljeet Singh (the uncle of the wife) died regarding which an FIR was registered with Police Station Moonak and in which the husband was convicted. Further, it was also observed by the Court that the husband was also facing criminal charges of kidnapping for ransom pertaining to which FIR was registered at Police Station City Tohana, District Fatehabad. 

Thus from this, the Court concluded that the husband appeared to be a desperado and thus, the Court was of the opinion that it would be a grave threat to the wife if she was to attend the hearing at Sangrur especially when she had a small minor child to look after. 

In view of the above circumstances, the Court concluded that it was evident that certainly undue hardship of exceptional nature was caused to the wife and it necessitated the intervention of the Court in allowing the present application. 

Accordingly, the petition under Section 13 of Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 pending in the Court of District & Sessions Judge, Sangrur was ordered to be transferred to the District Judge, Mansa with a direction to either deal with the same himself or entrust it to a Court of competent jurisdiction at Mansa.