A man stood as guarantor for a loan a company had taken. When the company could not pay it back, the lender moved court, which ordered that the guarantor’s property be auctioned to recover dues. The guarantor challenged the order before the Allahabad High Court but lost the case. He then appealed before the Supreme Court, which ruled that under the UP Public Moneys (Recovery of Dues) Act, the property of the principal debtors must first be auctioned in proceedings for recovery. Since the property of the company had not yet been sold, no action could be taken against the guarantor (Ashok Mahajan vs State of UP and others).
In a divorce case, a man refused to pay maintenance, claiming that the child was not his. The woman denied having cohabited with anyone except her ex-husband. The man requested the court for a DNA test to prove the child’s paternity. The Punjab and Haryana High Court refused the prayer, citing that the wife gave birth to the baby seven months after being turned out of her marital home, which means she was pregnant when she left the house. Moreover, the man failed to explain why he was asking for a paternity test eight years after the baby was born. The court ruled that such a test can be permitted only in the interest of the child and prima facie, that does not seem the case in this instance (Kuldeep Singh vs Joginder Kaur and another).
A case was lodged against a man for assaulting his wife with a chopper, injuring her severely. The head constable stated that he could not present the woman before the court as she was bed-ridden because of her injuries. The trial court closed the case, citing non-availability of the witness. There was an appeal against the order in the Karnataka High Court which ruled that closing prosecution in such a case is an unhealthy practice that results in offenders going scot free. It held that the Criminal Procedure Code made it clear that in cases where the witness could not come to court, he or she would have to be examined through a commissioner (State of Karnataka vs Byrappa).
SOLON
