Mangaluru: Ravindranath Shanbhag, president of Human Rights Protection Foundation (HRPF), said on Monday that the Kundapur Civil and JMFC Court has ordered the Passport Office to restrain a litigant, Jagadish alias Jagannath of Nada village of Kundapur taluk, preventing him from fleeing abroad as he had “cheated his lawfully wedded wife by marrying another woman”.

Addressing presspersons here, Dr. Shanbhag said that the aggrieved woman, Amitha, had approached the Superintendent of Police seeking police protection for herself and her parents, living in Chempi village, from Jagadish.

Giving details of the case, he said that Muttaiah Acharya’s son Jagadish married an unsuspecting Amitha (22) from Chempi in 2012 and settled down in his ancestral home in Nada. Although Jagadish neglected her from the first day of their marriage, Ms. Amitha quietly abided by her duties as a wife.

He was irritable and lost temper with her for minor reasons. She bore all the tantrums and insults and led a lonely life. Jagadish was working as a technician in a private company in Muscat.

However, in 2014, Ms. Amitha figured out the real reason for her husband’s unruly behaviour. Prior to his marriage with Ms. Amitha, Jagadish had been living and having a relationship with another woman of Ganiga community. When his parents Kamala and Muttaiah Acharya came to know about it, they insisted on having a daughter-in-law from their own Vishwakarma community.

With the full knowledge of their son having a relationship with another woman, they successfully clinched an alliance with Prabhakar Acharya’s daughter Ms. Amitha.

In 2014, after this fraud committed by Jagadish came to the light, both the families got together and discussed the matter, and finally came to the conclusion that Jagadish must pay Ms. Amitha a compensation of ₹ 25 lakh and dissolve their marriage through a decree in court.

As per the agreement, Jagadish paid an advance of ₹ 10 lakh with the assurance that he would pay the rest after the dissolution of the marriage. He also signed the papers for dissolving the marriage through mutual consent. After the dissolution case was filed before the Senior Civil Judge at Kundapur, he stopped appearing for court hearing.

By this, he thought that he could escape from paying the remaining compensation of ₹ 15 lakh. He thought that he could take advantage by delaying the matter in court, Dr. Shanbhag said.

Ms. Amitha and her family then approached HRPF for guidance, which brought the matter to the notice of the district administration. Ms. Amitha expressed apprehension of Jagadish fleeing the country with his second wife without dissolving their marriage.

As per the directions of the Deputy Commissioner, Priyanka Mary Francis, the Women and Child Welfare Officer urged the court to restrain Jagadish from leaving the country. The court issued orders on March 15, 2018, restraining from leaving the country and also passed an interim order that Ms. Amitha be paid ₹ 2,000 per month as maintenance pending litigation, Dr. Shanbhag said.

There were many such cases that had not come to light because people were afraid of societal reaction. The HRPF will assist if women who had got cheated in similar cases approached it, Dr. Shanbhag added.