Calcutta HC criticizes trial judge for ex parte divorce case dismissal

A division bench of Calcutta High Court came down heavily on a trial court judge for ex parte dismissal of a suit for divorce on the grounds of cruelty and desertion sought by the appellant-husband.

The bench comprising Justice Sabyasachi Bhattacharya and Justice Uday Kumar, in an order passed on May 22, observed that the trial court judge, by the impugned judgment, overlooked the fact that the wife (respondent) did not adduce any evidence of her own despite having filed a written statement and also did not cross-examine the husband.

That apart, it transpires even on a cursory perusal of the impugned judgment that the learned judge proceeded entirely on a tangential perception of his own, without adverting at all to the materials on record.

The trial court passed an ex parte decree in February 2018 against a matrimonial suit filed in 2015.

The Calcutta High Court bench said that a decree of divorce on the grounds of cruelty is hereby granted to the husband against the wife.

The bench said it is just stopping short of making any serious adverse comment against the learned trial court judge, merely because such a comment could have an adverse effect on the judge's service career.

However, the division bench expects that the learned trial judge concerned shall, in future, be aware of copy-pasting his previous judgments and going on his tangential curve of wishful imagination instead of adverting to the facts and materials on record in the particular case before him.

If any future instance of such an act on the part of the learned trial judge is noticed, the same may be directed to enter into his service book, the bench warned.