An advocate of the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday paid an alimony of Rs 24,600 to his wife – but in coins, reported The Indian Express. The court of Additional District and Sessions Judge RK Sharma witnessed high drama when the man, along with two of his aides, dragged a bag full of Re 1 and Rs 2 coins inside the Chandigarh courtroom.
The court asked him to get the coins converted into currency notes, but the advocate refused and said there was no provision in the law to give alimony in a particular form. “She is to be paid Rs 25,000 and I brought it in whichever form I could,” he told the court, according to The Indian Express.
Since the court did not have the time to count the coins, the case was adjourned till Friday.
His wife alleged that he was making a mockery of the court by bringing coins worth Rs 25,000. “This is a new way to torture and harass me,” she said, according to The Times of India. “What will I do with this money? No bank will accept this.”
The couple had filed for divorce in 2015. “I had been paying alimony to my wife previously also,” said the man. “But today, since I did not have currency notes, I brought the money in whichever form I could. I borrowed the coins from a religious institution where I performed seva.”
The couple got married in February 2014. “Our marriage could not last more than three months and in May, my husband filed a case for judicial separation,” the woman said. “He withdrew the application for separation on February 8, 2015. Then in October 2015, he filed a divorce case and I moved an application seeking maintenance from my husband. It was in February 2018 when the [Punjab and Haryana] High Court directed my husband to pay me a monthly maintenance. It was this money, which he today brought in form of coins just to make a mockery of the court.”
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