The Calcutta High Court recently fined a woman ₹1 lakh for publishing two notices in The Telegraph newspaper claiming her husband is planning his second marriage despite being married to her. .Justice Supratim Bhattacharya of the High Court’s Circuit Bench at Port Blair said the notice degraded the goodwill and reputation of the husband and defamed him.“In this present case, the wife has published a notice not only once but on two dates in a daily newspaper which is circulated in the said island which according to herself has been published without having the knowledge of the informant and in addition in spite of her diligent efforts she has not been able to gather the information as regards to the name of the girl with whom she has entangled her husband,” the Court observed. Therefore, it ordered the woman to pay ₹1 lakh in damages. .The Bench passed the order while hearing the wife’s plea against the first appellate court order, which ordered her to pay damages of ₹2 lakh to her husband. It was found that the woman published the notices without any factual backing which amounted to defamation. This was done while their case for divorce was pending.After considering the case, the High Court modified the first appellate court’s order and directed the woman to pay ₹1 lakh in damages..Advocate KMB Jayapal appeared for the wife. The husband was represented by Senior Advocate Anjili Nag..[Read Judgment]
