This story is from December 22, 2019

Legal aid: Wife calls Gujarat man’s bluff of being a ‘poor petitioner’

Sunanda Khurana approached the Gujarat high court complaining that her husband, Dharmendra Khurana, is not a poor man, but he has been provided free legal aid by the government. She demanded that her husband’s free legal aid should be withdrawn.
Legal aid: Wife calls Gujarat man’s bluff of being a ‘poor petitioner’
Representative image
AHMEDABAD: Sunanda Khurana approached the Gujarat high court complaining that her husband, Dharmendra Khurana, is not a poor man, but he has been provided free legal aid by the government. She demanded that her husband’s free legal aid should be withdrawn.
After over two decades of married life, the couple has been tangled in various litigations. In 2016, Sunanda instituted a civil suit in Mirzapur rural court against the husband for usurping her properties, which she claimed to have been bought from her money earned through a long service.
Dharmendra has obtained free lawyer from the District Legal Aid Service by placing his income tax returns claiming that his annual income is below Rs 1 lakh. Free legal aid is provided to the poor, whose annual income is below Rs 1 lakh.
After this civil suit, Sunanda lodged an FIR against her husband for cruelty and violence. A case under the Domestic Violence Act was also filed. Dharmendra obtained free legal aid in these cases too. Later, the husband filed a complaint against the wife and a neighbour for beating and ousting him from the house, but the court rejected his claims after a police inquiry, said Sunanda’s advocate N L Jain.
Before the high court, the wife place her husband’s ITRs for the year 2013-14 and 2014-15 to show that his income was above Rs 1lakh and argued that he did not fall in the category of poor and was not entitled to free legal service by the government under the Legal Service Authority Act, 1987, The Legal Aid Service told the HC that Dharmendra claimed free legal aid on basis of his NIL ITR for the year 2017-18. Dharmendra also told the HC that he is not residing at his house and is not earning anything.
After hearing the case, Justice Bhargav Karia earlier this week said that looking at the rival submissions and conflicting claims, the Legal Aid Service and the principal judge should take a fresh decision on whether Dharmendra should be provided free legal aid. Both the parties will have to submit their documents before the authorities.
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