NRI
restrain from marrying for a second time in India
Biswajyoti Ghosh was granted a divorce by a US court
Paramita, his wife got India Court order restraining
him from marrying for a second time
CALCUTTA, May 30, 2005
The Telegraph
Tapas Ghosh
In a rare judgment, the Alipore district judges’
court has passed an injunction stopping a US-based
engineer from marrying a second time.
Biswajyoti Ghosh was granted a divorce
by a US court from Calcuttan Paramita Ghosh, his
first wife
The Alipore district judge passed
the order last week on the basis of a petition by
Paramita, who had not been able to afford to travel
to the US to fight the divorce case lodged by her
husband there.
“Since everything legal in the
divorce case was conducted in the US, there was
nothing my client could do from here. But, finally,
justice has been delivered,” said Jayanta Narayan
Chatterjee, Paramita’s lawyer.
Paramita had married Biswajyoti Ghosh,
an engineer employed by Affiliated Computer Services
in Dallas, Texas, on December 22, 1998.
“Two years after their marriage,
Paramita went to live in her husband’s house
at Fort Worth, in the US. After 11 months, she was
forced to return to India as she used to be tortured
by her mother-in-law, who stayed with them,”
said Chatterjee.
Paramita’s father Promod Das,
a resident of SC Banerjee Road in Beleghata, said
his daughter was driven out by her mother-in-law
in 2002, while she was pregnant.
After returning to Calcutta, she gave
birth to a boy, Hritabrata. But her in-laws remained
incommunicado.
In December 2003, Paramita first received
a notice from a county court in Texas, asking her
to attend a hearing with regard to a divorce petition
moved by her husband Biswajyoti.
“My daughter couldn’t afford
to go across and fight the case. We even wrote to
the court concerned. But, in June 2004, the court
issued an ex-parte divorce decree in favour of Biswajyoti,”
said Das.
“My son-in-law earns more than
$4,500 a month. A Sealdah court, on the basis of
Paramita’s plea, had directed Biswajyoti to
pay maintenance to her and her son. But Biswajyoti
declined to accept the court order,” added
Das.
So, Paramita went to Alipore court,
seeking restoration of marriage. The district sessions
judge directed Biswajyoti to attend court.
“As he did not turn up on the
specific date, the judge passed the interim order
restraining him from marrying for a second time,”
explained Paramita’s father.
Legal experts feel the district
judge’s order is very significant as it is
likely to become a precedent in similar cases, where
Bengali women have been deserted by their NRI husbands.
Estimate pegged at 100 the number
of similar cases, in which women were divorced in
a similar manner abroad and have sought redress
at the Alipore and Barasat courts
