Mumbai Court tells Munde to pay Rs 2 lakh monthly maintenance in domestic violence case
Mr. Munde has contended in the court that he never married Ms Sharma and there is no domestic relationship between them
Mumbai: A local Mumbai court on Thursday directed Maharashtra minister Dhananjay Munde to pay Rs 1.25 lakh monthly maintenance money as interim relief to Karuna Sharma, who claims to be the minister’s first wife. The court held that denying conjugal rights to Ms Sharma prima facie amounts to emotional violence. The court also awarded Rs 75,000 monthly maintenance money for the couple’s daughter.
Ms Sharma, who has two children with the minister, had filed a domestic violence case against him in the Bandra court in 2020. She had also sought interim maintenance of Rs 5,00,000 per month to each applicant, i.e. for herself and two children and interim compensation of Rs 25,00,00,000 form Mr. Munde.
Holding that Mr Munde is denying conjugal rights of Ms Sharma also amounts to the domestic violence, judge Magistrate A.B. Jadhav in his order said, “ … the relations between them are strained and inference can be drawn that, as the respondent is denying marital status of applicant No.1 (Ms. Sharama), she is emotionally abused by the respondent which amounts to domestic violence. Therefore, I hold that, applicant prima-facie proved that she has been subjected to domestic violence at the hands of respondent.”
The magistrate also held that Ms. Sharma was entitled for the interim protection order and maintenance and directed Mr. Munde to pay her Rs 75,000 per month and Rs 25,000 per month to their daughter Shivani. However, the magistrate held that their son Shishiv is now not entitled to maintenance after attending the (age of) majority.
Mr. Munde has contended in the court that he never married Ms Sharma and there is no domestic relationship between them. However, the magistrate held, on the basis of documents presented before him, that Mr. Munde had married Ms. Sharma in 1998. “Now whether the said marriage is legal or not it can be decided on the evidence adduced by both the parties,” the court order said.
The minister has also argued that Ms Sharma is the director of three companies — she has the import-export business of clothes, she is an insurance agent and she is also in the business of renting the premises on commission — thus she is not entitled for any maintenance. Dealing with the contention, the magistrate said, “Whether the applicant has suppressed the material facts regarding her income or not is a matter of evidence. Therefore, at this stage it cannot be concluded that the applicant has suppressed the material facts.”
The couple’s son Shishiv has sided with Mr. Munde and their mother used to traumatise both children. In a facebook post, he said, “My father has not been the best. But he was never harmful to us unlike our mother. She had her traumas and the worst way to deal with them, which was by traumatising us. The domestic violence she claims happened to her, used to happen to me, my sister and my father (sic)...”
