Raipur Mar 31 PTI The Chhattisgarh High Court has ruled that an unmarried daughter can claim the expenses of marriage from her parents under the provisions of the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act 1956 A division bench of the high court in Bilaspur was hearing a petition filed by a 35-year-old woman Rajeshwari a native of Chhattisgarhs Durg district The bench of Justices Goutam Bhaduri and Sanjay S Agrawal on March 21 allowed her plea for hearing by admitting that an unmarried daughter can claim the amount of her marriage from her parents under the provisions of the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act 1956 said the petitioners advocate A K Tiwari The bench set aside the order dated 22 April 2016 passed by the Principal Judge of family court Durg and remanded the matter to the family court for adjudication of the same on merits in the spirit of Section 3b ii of the Act of 1956 The court has directed the parties to appear before the family court The petitioner daughter of an employee of Bhilai Steel Plant BSP Bhunu Ram filed a petition in Durg family court under Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act 1956 and made a claim that maintenance to the tune of around Rs 20 lakh be given to her in the mode of marriage expense The family court had on 7 January 2016 dismissed the application by stating that there is no provision in the Act that a daughter can claim the amount of her marriage In her plea Rajeshwari said that the respondent Bhanu Ram is going to retire and likely to receive Rs 55 lakh as retiral dues therefore appropriate writ be issued directing the respondent-employer Bhilai Steel Plant to release a part of his retiral dues to the tune of Rs 20 lakh in her favour Challenging the order of the family court Rajeshwari had moved the high court stating that as per the law an unmarried daughter can demand the expenses of marriage from her father claiming that the expense comes under the purview of maintenance Tiwari said The bench considered the decision as significant and it has been approved for reporting AFR he said explaining that the case would now be given place in all the law books This the first of its kind order by the high court of Chhattisgarh Tiwari added PTI COR TKP NP NP

Bilaspur Mar 26 PTI The Chhattisgarh High Court has directed the CBI to probe the murder of a couple and their two minor sons that took place in the states Mahasamund district in 2018 Justice Goutam Bhaduri on Friday passed the order on a petition filed by a family member of the deceased persons which claimed that the investigation carried out by the local police was shoddy and directed to hand over the case to the CBI The High Court held that perusal of the material seized along with the affidavit of the State in the case do not inspire confidence of fair investigation On the intervening night of May 30 and 31 2018 health worker Yogmaya Sahu 30 her husband Chaitanya 31 and their sons Kunal 9 and Tanmay 7 were killed in a government quarter in Kishanpur villages sub-health centre premises The police arrested Dharmendra Bariha of the village in connection with the murder and later based on his narco analysis four more accused - then sarpanch of Kishanpur Suresh Khunte Phoolsingh Yadav Gaurishankar Kewat and Akhandal Pradhan - were arrested in 2019 The five accused are in jail and the case is under trial in the district court Dissatisfied with the police investigation Chaitanyas father Babulal Sahu had approached the High Court seeking to get the matter further investigated by other agencies claiming that the police had failed to carry out a fair probe As per the order the petitioners counsel Raghvendra Pradhan submitted that the house where the four murders took place was under the CCTV surveillancein the press conference after the offence the then Superintendent of Police came out with a statement that the digital video recording DVR of the CCTV has been seized but the case diary or the final report is silent about such seizure Bariha was made an accused on the report of Suresh who was subsequently found to be involved in the crime The police were helping the accused who were involved in the business of alcohol and drugs for which a monthly payment was being made to the police which was revealed in the narco test the petitioners counsel argued After hearing the arguments of both the parties the High Court had reserved its order on March 14 In its order passed on Friday the court noted that certain links were missing in the case and they were serious in nature Prima facie perusal of the material seized along with the affidavit of the state do not inspire confidence of fair investigation as such I deem it proper to direct further investigation of the matter by the CBI Justice Bhaduri observed The CBI will further investigate the case and proceed in accordance with the law within a period of four months from the date of receipt of a copy of the order the court said PTI COR TKP ARU ARU

Raipur Feb 22 PTI The Chhattisgarh High Court in Bilaspur has stayed a triple talaq order passed against a woman by a Sharia court operating in Raipur whose validity has also been challenged by her the petitioners counsel said on TuesdayA single bench of Justice P Sam Koshy on Monday ordered a stay on the effect and operation of the impugned order till the next date of hearing said the counsel for the woman petitioner Devershi ThakurThe woman had filed a petition in the HC challenging the validity of Idara-E Shariya Islami Court operating in Chhattisgarh capital Raipur and a triple talaq order passed by it against herThe Sharia court in January this year in a ruling granted triple talaq a practice of instant divorce now banned under the law to the woman on basis of her husbands pronouncement following which she filed a writ petition in the HC against the order he saidThe woman argued that no opportunity was provided by the Sharia court to present her side which was a violation of the right to life provided under the Constitution Thakur saidThrough the present petition the petitioner had challenged the existence of the Idara-E Shariya Islami Court which is in violation of the constitution fundamental rights to life and liberty and the Muslim Women Protection of Rights on Divorce Act 1986 said ThakurThe petitioner had complained at a womens police station here against her husband and in-laws but the counselling at the One Stop Sakhi Centre which takes up women-related issues failed to bring about a rapprochement between the two sides An FIR was subsequently registered at the police station against the womans husband and in-lawsHowever the respondenthusband proceeded with triple talaq pronouncement and the Sharia court passed its order without providing an opportunity to the woman to present her side Thakur saidThe Centre enacted a law in 2019 which made the practice of instant triple talaq a criminal offence PTI COR RSY RSY

Bilaspur Nov 26 PTI The Chhattisgarh High Court on Friday refused to grant interim relief to suspended Additional Director General of Police ADGP G P Singh in a disproportionate assets case After hearing the application for interim relief in the case the bench of Justice Rajani Dubey had reserved the order on November 16 Additional Advocate General AAG Amrito Das said The Anti-Corruption Bureau ACB and Economic Offences Wing EOW had registered an FIR against Singh a 1994-batch IPS officer under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act on June 29 after preliminary findings into complaints that he had allegedly amassed disproportionate assets The anti-graft agency had carried out searches at 15 locations linked to the officer from July 1 to July 3 and claimed to have discovered movable and immovable assets worth Rs 10 crore Based on the documents recovered during the raids the Raipur police had also registered a case on charges of sedition and promoting enmity against Singh who was suspended on July 5 Singh in July had filed separate writ petitions in the high court challenging both the cases and also sought interim relief The HC had on July 23 dismissed the applications for interim relief in both the cases citing that the petitioner has not filed bail application under section 438 of the CrPC for grant of anticipatory bail Therefore grant of protection would override the provisions of section 438 of the CrPC Against the court order Singh had moved a Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court which was also dismissed on October 1 Das said Subsequently Singh again filed an application in the high court seeking interim relief and to quash the FIR registered by the two agencies contending that it was lodged on account of bias against him with mala fide intention The high court in its order said as communicated by Additional Advocate General in his reply to the interim application that the petitioner neither appeared before the investigating agency nor replied to any notice or letter issued by it and not co-operated with the investigating agency which shows that the petitioner is running from pillar to post with ill-intent The court has asked the state to file its reply within four weeks Das said PTI COR TKP ARU ARU

Bilaspur Oct 24 PTI Chhattisgarh High Court Chief Justice Arup Kumar Goswami on Sunday said the state has to ensure justice is not denied to any person just because he or she is not financially capable Addressing the virtual launch of an e-mega legal service camp organized by National Legal Services Authority NALSA the Chief Justice said as per Article 39a of the Constitution the task of providing free justice to the deprived sections of society has to be accomplished by the state government by framing acts and rules for its corresponding obligations The NALSA Act was passed by the state to discharge the obligations provided under the Constitution and the Chhattisgarh State Legal Services Authority CSLSA is created by the virtue of this Act The work of empowering the underprivileged section of society by providing legal information is done by the CSLSA he said He said a e-mega camp to provide legal information door-to-door in every village through panels of para-legal volunteer and lawyer is being held as part of the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations Presiding over the function Justice Goutam Bhaduri said settlements worth several crore rupees were awarded last year and over 8 lakh people benefited He asked people to dial NALSAs helpline number 1005 for legal services PTI COR BNM BNM BNM

New Delhi Sep 22 PTI The Supreme Court Wednesday refused to entertain two separate appeals of the Chhattisgarh government against orders of the high court granting a stay on investigation in an FIR registered against senior BJP leader and former chief minister Raman Singh and the party spokesman Sambit Patra for their tweets in connection with the alleged fake toolkit case Let the Chhattisgarh High Court decide the case We know that in the entire country there are people in different courts for stay etc in this toolkit business Why should we give separate preference to this case a bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana told senior advocate A M Singhvi who appeared for the Congress-led Chhattisgarh government to assail the high courts relief granted to the two BJP leaders The Chhattisgarh High Court on June 11 had passed two separate orders and granted interim reliefs in the same FIR lodged against Singh and Patra while noting that averments in the FIR reflected that by the tweets Congressmen are aggravated which clearly indicates that no public peace or tranquillity is being adversely affected and it is purely political rivalry between two political parties As soon as the bench commenced the hearing the bench also comprising justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli expressed its views saying that the high court be allowed to decide the pleas of the BJP leaders in the criminal case Referring to the findings of the high court Singhvi assisted by lawyer Sumeer Sodhi said What will the High court decide at this stage look at the observations Even if I go there I must have a genuine hearing The high court said the petitioners are political persons and recorded the findings that no case is made out he said adding Now what is left for me to go back for The bench however said Dont waste your energy here We are not inclined to interfere Let the High Court decide the matter expeditiously The SLPs special leave petitions are dismissed Let the observations not come in the way of deciding the case on merits The apex court requested the Chhattisgarh HC to decide expeditiously the pleas related to the fake toolkit case Earlier the state government through lawyer Sumeer Sodhi had moved the top court against the high court orders granting stay of investigation in an FIR registered against the BJP leaders The high court had said it was prima facie established that present FIR has been registered with political motives In its appeal against the order in Raman Singh case the state government said that on June 11 at the stage of admission the high court vide the impugned order not only admitted the frivolous petition but also erroneously granted an interim relief sought by the accused Respondent number 1 Raman Singh by staying the investigation arising out of the FIR It sought setting aside of the orders on the ground that the top court has time and again held that extraordinary powers of the high court under Article 226 of the Constitution ought to be used sparingly and in rarest of rare cases The state government has further said that the high court erred in exercising such powers and staying the entire investigation as a nascent stage especially when ex-facie offence of forgery is made out and is writ large It said the state has been carrying out an investigation in accordance with law and considering the pandemic has been fair in its conduct and the accused was given an opportunity to be present at his own house as per the notice sent to him and when the second notice was sent to him he was given an option to be present through his lawyer The high court completely overlooked these aspects while returning a finding against the state government that the FIR has been lodged with political motives it said The state government further said that the defence of the accused ought not to be looked at the stage of quashing however in the present case the high court seems to have been wrongly swayed by the submission of the accused that he was not the author of the document and further that one Team Bharat was the actual author of the document It said that the impugned order is ex-facie illegal perverse and in stark derogation of the settled principles of law vis--vis the powers of the High Court to interfere at the nascent stage of investigation therefore deserves to be set aside The state government took similar grounds in the appeal filed in the case of Sambit Patra and sought setting aside of the order It has in interim sought an ex-parte stay of ad-interim orders granting stay of the impugned order dated June 11 passed by the High Court On May 19 an FIR was lodged based on the complaint of Akash Sharma the president of the National Students Union of Indias NSUI Chhattisgarh unit with the allegation that Singh Patra and others had circulated fabricated content on social media platforms using a fake letterhead of the Congress by projecting it as a toolkit developed by the party PTI SJK SA

A Chhattisgarh high court ruling on Thursday that said ‘Sexual intercourse by a man with his wife, is not rape even if it is by force or against her wish’ has triggered a massive outrage. An editorji poll across several social media platforms has shown that an overwhelming majority of respondents want the ruling to […]

The Chhattisgarh High Court on Thursday acquitted a man from facing trial for allegedly raping his wife ruling that sexual intercourse between legally wedded man and woman is not rape even if it is by force. During the hearing of the case involving the issue of ‘marital rape’, Justice NK Chandravanshi said that ‘sexual intercourse […]