Punjab and Haryana High Court imposes ₹10k cost on woman who accused judge of bias in DV case

The Punjab and Haryana High Court recently imposed a cost of ₹10,000 on a woman for accusing a trial court judge of bias in a domestic violence case filed by her..Justice Sumeet Goel added that the payment of these costs and the production of a receipt for it shall be a condition to enable her to pursue the complaint pending before the trial court.“To clarify, in case the requisite costs are not deposited as directed for herein, the petition filed by the petitioner under Section 12 of the [Protection of Women from Domestic Violence] Act of 2005 shall be dismissed on this score alone by the concerned trial Magistrate,” the Court said..The woman (petitioner) had moved the High Court seeking a transfer of her case to a different trial court judge. Her counsel alleged that the magistrate was biased against her and that this could be inferred from the orders passed by him. However, the High Court said that an order not being palatable or acceptable to the complainant cannot be a ground to seek the transfer of the case..Further, Justice Goel called the woman's claim that the accused side was openly proclaiming influence over the judicial magistrate as “not based on any tangible material” and grossly frivolous.The Court emphasized that such an unscrupulous attempt to cast aspersions on the trial magistrate deserves to be deprecated and responded with abhorrence.“Accordingly, costs, which ought to be veritable and real time in nature, to be imposed upon the petitioner,” it added..However, keeping in view the woman’s age (44 years) and since the proceedings in question concerned matrimonial discord, the Court proceeded to quantify the costs with some latitude. “Ergo, the petitioner is saddled with costs of ₹10,000/-,” it ordered..Advocate Rahul Sharma represented the petitioner..Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.