Divorce case: Odisha court asks Barsa Swony to appear on May 11

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Baleswar, May 6:

A family court in Odisha’s Baleswar town has again issued summons to Barsa Swony Choudhury to appear before it on May 11 after she failed to make court appearance on May 2.

After admitting the divorce petition filed by Rajashree Mohanty, the son of former Odisha minister Raghunath Mohanty, the family court had issued summons to his estranged wife Barsa Swony Choudhury to appear before it on May 2. However, she failed to appear before it for unknown reasons.

Rajashree Mohanty had filed a divorce petition (116/15) before the family court here on March 24 and the court admitted the case on March 30. In his petition, Rajashree had cited mental torture to him and his family members, complete desertion for the last two years and non-performance of duties legally binding on her as a wife as the grounds for seeking legal separation from Barsa.

“We would decide on our next course of action after Barsa Swony Choudhury appears before the court as per its orders,” Rajashree’s counsel Harekrushna Dash said.

On the other hand, Barsa Swony has also filed cases of domestic violence and alimony against his husband.

It may be recalled that on March 14, 2013, Barsa had accused Rajashree, her father-in-law Raghunath Mohanty, mother-in-law Pritilata Mohanty, sister-in-law Rupashree Madhual and brother-in-law Suvendu Madhual of torturing her physically and mentally for dowry.

A case was registered at Baleswar Town Police Station under sections 498 (a) (husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty), 448 (trespass), 506 (criminal intimidation), 34 (common intention) of the IPC and section 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act (penalty for dowry).

After public outcry and Opposition protests, the five-time MLA resigned as Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Law and Information Technology on March 15, 2013.

Following the case, Rajashree was arrested by the Human Rights Protection Cell (HRPC) on March 17, 2013 from near Cuttack. After cooling his heels behind bars for 21 days, Rajashree was granted conditional bail on April 5, 2013 by Baleswar District and Sessions Court in the dowry case against him.

Subsequently, the then Basta BJD MLA Raghunath Mohanty and his wife were arrested on March 30 from West Bengal after evading police for a fortnight. However, the couple walked out of jail on April 2 on bail.

The incident cost Raghunath Mohanty a BJD ticket in the 2014 Assembly elections.