'Can't Treat Wife As Commodity': Orissa High Court Dismisses Husband's Frivolous Habeas Corpus Plea With ₹25K Cost

In a strongly-worded order, the Orissa High Court has criticised a man for filing a frivolous habeas corpus plea to secure the custody of his wife and child, knowing well that the wife had left his company out of her own volition due to some matrimonial disputes.

To discourage such vexatious litigation in the future, the Division Bench of Chief Justice Harish Tandon and Justice Murahari Sri Raman imposed rupees twenty five thousand as costs on the petitioner and observed –

“The husband cannot compel the wife to act as per his dictum nor can he treat the wife as his commodity. The fundamental right which is conferred upon every individual irrespective of the gender cannot be treated as one way traffic by a particular gender. The wife has a right to take an independent decision of her life and if she has chosen to dissociate her company from the husband, the husband cannot be permitted to abuse or misuse the power of the Court in issuing the writ of habeas corpus.”

The petitioner filed a writ petition seeking issuance of the writ of habeas corpus for getting back the custody of his wife and minor child from his brother-in-law. He alleged wrongful detention of the duo by the latter. While filing the writ petition, he annexed a copy of the complaint dated April 30, 2025 and pleaded that the police authorities turned down his request to accept the same.

However, the Court questioned the veracity of such claim as there was no proof to suggest that the petitioner put reasonable endeavour to ensure receipt of the said complaint by the police authorities.

“The meaningful reading of the averments made in the instant writ petition does not instill confidence in us that the petitioner is a truthful and/or trustworthy litigant. The Court shall not permit such recalcitrant litigant to abuse or misuse the process concerning the habeas corpus nor should permit any litigant to steal-a-march over the statutory provisions.”

The Bench suspected that the petitioner has prepared the complaint merely to annex the same in the writ petition which was never placed before the police authorities.

After filing of the petition, the police contacted the wife of the petitioner in order to take stock of the circumstances which culminated in seeking of habeas corpus. The wife intimated the police about matrimonial disharmony with her spouse. After the same was communicated to the Court, it came down heavily on the petitioner for resorting to writ remedy to settle personal scores and treating his wife as a “commodity”.

“The application is misconceived which contained frivolous allegations, and therefore, deserves not only to be dismissed but a stringent condition to be imposed in the form of cost,” it observed.

Accordingly, the writ petition was dismissed imposing the cost of Rs.25,000/-, to be deposited with the Odisha State Legal Services Authority (OSLSA), which shall be utilized for welfare of the abandoned children.

Case Title: VKB v. State of Odisha & Ors.

Case No: WPCRL No. 64 of 2025

Order Dated: July 10, 2025

Counsel for the Petitioner: Mr. Manish Nag Das, Advocate on behalf of Mr.Ramesh Agarwal, Advocate

Counsel for the State: Mr. Debasish Tripathy, Additional Government Advocate

Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Ori) 92

Click Here To Read/Download Order