Disposed¶29

Pratima Barik v. State of Odisha

Orissa HC8 May 2024WPCRL/28/2024

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

Pratima Barik v. State of Odisha and others, WPCRL No.28 of 2024, High Court of Orissa at Cuttack, order dated 08.05.2024 (Arindam Sinha & M.S. Sahoo, JJ.). Custody of three minor children; widowed mother; in-laws alleged forcible custody; police non-assistance after order dated 10.08.2023 of learned Single Judge directing report to SP Bargarh; State instruction dated 05.05.2024; enquiry found children staying happily with grandfathers Bhagabatia Barik and Chhedu Barik; no force found; remedy is before competent Court; writ petition disposed. Related FIR: Jharbandh PS Case No.50 dt. 26.03.2023 U/s. 279/338/304(A) IPC; husband Sankirtan Barik died in road accident 26.03.2023.

What did the court decide?

Upon perusal of the State's instruction dated 5th May, 2024, the Court was satisfied that custody of the children was not taken by force.

Pratima Barik Vs State of Odisha — Orissa HC (2024) — LawSathi Research

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IN THE HIGH COURT OF ORISSA AT CUTTACK WPCRL No.28 of 2024

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Pratima Barik

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..... Petitioner

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Represented by Adv.Mr. S. Cho u dhury, Advocate

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-versus-

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State of Odisha and others ..... Opposite Parties Repr e sented By Adv.Mr. A. K . Sharma, AGA

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CORAM:

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THE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ARINDAM SINHA

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AND

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THE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE M.S. SAHOO

ORDER

08.05.2024

Order No.

02.

Mr. C houdhury, learned advocate appears on behalf of

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petitioner, w ho is widowed mother of three minor children. Mr. Sharma, le a rned advocate, Additional Gover n ment Advocate appears on b ehalf of State and hands up his inst r uction dated 5^th May, 2024.

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Page 1 of 4

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It is n e cessary for us to reproduce paragraph s 1 to 3 from our order dated 2 2^nd April, 2024, made on moving the w rit petition.

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“1. M r . Choudhury, learned advocate appea r s on behalf of peti t ioner and submits, his client is wido w ed mother of thr e e minor children. Her in-laws hav e forcefully taken c ustody of them. She had earlier moved two writ petitio n s, one of which was disposed of by o rder dated 10^th A u gust, 2023 made by the learned Si n gle Judge, requir i ng her to submit written report a fr esh before Superi n tendent of Police, Bargarh. It was d one but the police have not assisted his client for recove r ing custody of her c hildren.

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2. M r. Sharma, learned advocate, Additional Gover n ment Advocate appears on behalf of State. He points out, allegations have been made ag a inst the inlaws b u t none of them have been made parti e s.

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3. M r. Choudhury is given liberty to add the in-laws by ma k ing amendment to the cause title in C o urt. It is to be co u nter signed by Court Master. Ph o to copy of amen de d cause title to be handed over to M r. Sharma with e x tra copies to be served by Mr. Chou d hury. State will t h rough concerned police personnel report on petitio n er’s allegation of the in-laws havin g forcefully taken a way custody of the children.”

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Page 2 of 4

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We re p roduce below three paragraphs fro m said instruction dated 5^th Ma y , 2024.

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“On 2 6 .03.2023, the husband of petitioner e xpired in a road accident near village Baitali under Jh a rbandh PS. In this regard, a cog case was registered a t Jharbandh PS vi d e Jharbandh PS case No.50 Dt. 26.0 3 .2023 U/s. 279/3 3 8/304(A) IPC. Few months before d eath of her husba n d, the petitioner has been staying se p arately and maint a ining her livelihood as labour. The p e titioner did not p a rticipate in the cremation cerem o ny of her husba n d. Lekru Barik, the father-in-law of p e titioner has expire d on 16.10.2018 and her mother-in-law has gone away s omewhere after the birth of husband of petitioner. Nobo dy could able to say where about t he present locati o n of mother-in-law of petitioner.

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A fter death of Sankirtan Barik, the husband of petitio n er, the minor girl Sangita Barik has b een staying at Sankri Ashram School, Sankri under Jh a rbandh PS and is a 7^th class student of that school. Th e minor boy of peti t ioner has been staying at Jhitiki Ashram School under Paikmal PS, Dist. Bargarh and is a 4^th class studen t of that school. The other minor gi r l has been stayin g with her younger grandfather Bhag a batia Barik (broth e r of late Lekru Barik), who is the un c le-in-law of petitio n er and going to Anganwadi cent r e for pre-

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Page 3 of 4

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education. Bhagabatia Barik is an unmar r ied person and is taking care of three minor children o f petitioner prope r ly.

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D uring enquiry it is ascertained tha t, the minor childr e n of petitioner are staying happily an d peacefully with t h eir younger grandfathers Bhagabati a Barik and Chhed u Barik. In school vacation p eriod, the grand fa thers go to the school of minor c h ildren and bring t hem to house to stay with them.”

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Upon p erusal of the instruction we are satis f ied that custody of the child r en was not taken by force. Petition e r must find her remedy by m oving for custody before the compe t ent Court. With above obser v ation the writ petition is disposed of.

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( Arindam Sinha ) Judge

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( M.S. Sahoo ) Judge

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Prasant Signature Not Verified

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Digitally Signed Signed by: PRASANT KUMAR SAHOO Reason: Authentication Location: Orissa High Court Date: 08-May-2024 19:42:45

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Page 4 of 4

Pratima Barik v. State of Odisha

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

Pratima Barik v. State of Odisha

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

What the court decided

Issues for consideration

Statutes considered

Procedural history

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Coram

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