Court rejects bail of woman accused of filing false maintenance cases against men

The case came to light when a man approached the high court seeking the dismissal of a proceeding that sought maintenance of Rs 25,000 initiated against him by the woman. The man claimed that he had never met her.

In Short

• Court cited risk of absconding for denying bail
• Case surfaced after man challenged maintenance claim
• Case was registered against woman and her two lawyers

The Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court refused to grant bail to a woman accused of filing fake proceedings for maintenance against men and then, after out of court settlements, used to withdraw them.

The case had been registered at Silod City police station in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra against accused Latabai Jadhav and two of her lawyers. Jadhav had filed the bail plea on the ground of delay of trial, which was earlier rejected by the Magistrate as well as the Sessions court.

The bench of Justice SG Mehare, while rejecting the bail plea, said, "Though the trial has been little bit delayed, and the Trial Court was expecting a speedy trial, the reasons for not exercising the discretion recorded by both Courts appears to be correct, legal and proper. The applicant has no good past. Hence, apprehension of her absconding is also justifiable."

Justice Mehare, while rejecting Jadhav's bail plea, observed that "It appears that the Trial Court is trying its best to conclude the trial at the earliest. But, many times, many things are not under the control of the Presiding Officer. It is a teamwork. All parties concerned should support the Court in concluding the trial within a reasonable period."

The case came to light when a man approached the high court seeking the dismissal of a proceeding that sought maintenance of Rs 25,000 initiated against him by Jadhav.

The man claimed that he had never met Jadhav and his own investigation had led him to the revelation that Jadhav along with her two advocates had filed three more such similar proceedings using fake names.

The man told the high court that in two of these proceedings there had been out of court settlements and the proceedings were then withdrawn. However, in all these cases the story was the same. Following the man's plea, the court had directed the police to enquire into the cases.

After receiving the report, the court concluded that the advocates were conniving with the woman and filing bogus proceedings which were only to be withdrawn later following out of court settlements.

The court had then directed the Sillod City police to register an FIR against advocates Ashok Tayade and Buddhabhushan Dandge and Jadhav.

A chargesheet was filed by the police on October 15, 2023, in which Jadhav was shown as an absconding accused. She was arrested only on January 30 this year.

Jadhav and others had been charged under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 182 (Resistance to the taking of property by the lawful authority of a public servant), 193 (false evidence), 419 (impersonation), 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery) read with Section 34 (common intention) of the IPC. There are only two witnesses remaining to testify in the case.