Calcutta HC
Though the maximum punishment for the crime is 10 years in jail, the bench reduced the duration of imprisonment to three years, keeping in mind Chatterjee’s age. Shasthi lodged a police complaint against her husband five years later, on Jan 3, 1990. The trial judge questioned the delay in filing the complaint and acquitted Jibananda on Dec 20, 1996. Shasthi challenged the acquittal in Calcutta High Court in 1997.
After 29 years, the division bench of justices Mantha and Bandopadhyay overturned the acquittal and criticised the trial judge’s “hypertechnical approach”. Stating that the first marriage was “clearly” proved, the bench held Jibananda guilty under Section 495 of Indian Penal Code (bigamy). “The trial judge, while having copiously written the judgment in his own handwriting, has unfortunately misdirected himself while appreciating the evidence on record and the undisputed facts,” the bench said.
The court directed the officer-in charge of Raghunathpur police station in Purulia to take Jibananda into custody. The judge also held that Shasthi failed to prove the existence of her husband’s first marriage.
Kolkata: Calcutta High Court has overturned an almost 30-year-old acquittal in a case of bigamy and directed a 75-year-old former policeman to serve three years in prison and pay Rs 1 lakh as compensation to his second wife.