Mumbai: A Mumbai sessions court on Wednesday granted protection to a Mumbai policeman in a complaint filed against him and his family members by his wife for mental and physical cruelty.
Additional Sessions Judge Abhijeet A. Nandgaonkar said in his order that the applicant against whom the allegations were levelled was serving as part of the Mumbai Police and that therefore the question of his absconding did not arise. He would be available at any time if required by the investigating officer for inquiry purposes, the court added, noting that as of now, no offence has been registered on the complaint filed by the wife.
It directed the applicant Pramod Khadang to cooperate with the investigation and be present as and when called by the investigating officer.
Judge Nandgaonkar said earlier in his order that “prima-facie looking into the nature and complaint applications filed by the wife of the applicant, the offence of matrimonial dispute is revealed." The judge added however, that at this stage he cannot jump to any conclusion about the complaint application filed by the wife. A detailed investigation is therefore required, he said.
The MRA Marg police had opposed Khadang’s plea telling the court that he had not presented himself when called for investigation. It admitted that an FIR had not yet been registered on the complaint application filed by the wife Punam Khadang.
On 16 December last year, the wife had approached the Woman Complaint Redressal Wing, Kalyan against her husband, his father, mother and two sisters alleging physical and mental stress. A few days later, she filed a complaint application before the DCP, Zone I alleging cruelty by them.
She stated in her complaint that her in-laws harassed her on account of household chores and that her husband, who was addicted to alcohol, physically and verbally abused her. She was not aware of his being an alcoholic before marriage, she said and added that she was driven to attempt suicide at a point when harassment had become unbearable.
