An advocate of the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday paid an alimony of Rs 24,600 to his wife – but in coins, reported The Indian Express. The court of Additional District and Sessions Judge RK Sharma witnessed high drama when the man, along with two of his aides, dragged a bag full of Re 1 and Rs 2 coins inside the Chandigarh courtroom.
The court asked him to get the coins converted into currency notes, but the advocate refused and said there was no provision in the law to give alimony in a particular form. “She is to be paid Rs 25,000 and I brought it in whichever form I could,” he told the court.
Since the court did not have the time to count the coins, the case was adjourned till Friday.
A woman, in her 30s, unable to control her emotions at what she called “sheer harassment”, the woman told the court how she got the majority of the monthly maintenance of Rs 25,000 in the form of Rs 1 and Rs 2 coins. Only Rs 400 were in Rs100 notes .
It was in 2014 that the husband filed for separation and later divorce. Two months back, the court directed him to give a monthly maintenance of Rs 25,000 to the woman.
After he failed to do so, the woman moved the high court, which directed the husband to pay Rs 50,000.
Finally, he paid a month’s amount to his estranged wife in court, but in coins.
The couple had filed for divorce in 2015. “I had been paying alimony to my wife previously also,” said the man. “But today, since I did not have currency notes, I brought the money in whichever form I could. I borrowed the coins from a religious institution where I performed seva.”
The couple got married in February 2014. “Our marriage could not last more than three months and in May, my husband filed a case for judicial separation,” the woman said. “He withdrew the application for separation on February 8, 2015.
Then in October 2015, he filed a divorce case and I moved an application seeking maintenance from my husband. It was in February 2018 when the [Punjab and Haryana] High Court directed my husband to pay me a monthly maintenance. It was this money, which he today brought in form of coins just to make a mockery of the court.”
Infuriated, the woman said it was her husband’s another way to torture and harass her.
“This is a clear mockery of law,” she said outside the courtroom. She refused to accept her husband’s argument that he did not have the money.
“He is a practising advocate and has high-profile clients. In addition to this, he has a number of properties to his name,” she said.
