Smt. Harbans Kaur was born in a Sikh family at Sialkot. In the year 1921
at the age of 11 or 12 years she was married to Sujan Singh a Sikh by faith in
the Anand form which is an approved form of marriage amongst the Sikhs. Sujan Singh brought his wife who was a shy and
innocent girl observing Pardah to live with him. Sujan Singh was posted at
various stations in Assam where the husband and wife lived happily and had four
children. Smt. Harbans Kaur started getting pain in her abdomen and on the
suggestion of a lady friend she went to Calcutta to get treatment from the
accused who had recently returned from England after obtaining double F. R. C.
S. from two British Universities. Sujan Singh could not accompany her. She met
the accused who treated her and when her pain had subsided she came back to
Mymensingh where her husband was posted and told him that the doctor had
advised her to come to Calcutta for further treatment. Sujan Singh accordingly
took six month's leave and went with his wife and children to Calcutta in the
first week of December, 1939, and stayed there at 3 Store Road. On their
arrival their daughter Sheela got typhoid and was treated by the accused. When
She was better he started the treatment of the complainant.
The accused became very friendly with Sujan Singh and 'his wife. He used
to come not only for professional visits but also for friendly and social
contacts and often took his lunch, tea and dinner with them. The frequent
visits to such social gatherings in hotels and clubs had a tremendous effect on
the unsophisticated mind of the prosecutrix who began to take a wide interest
in them. The accused evinced unusual interest in the complainant and started
admiring her on frequent occasions and thus became friendly with her. One day
in January the complainant also developed a liking for the accused who
expressed to her on some occasions that he was madly in love with her. In fact
the accused started taking liberties with her but she did not allow him to go
beyond certain limits.
Sujan Singh left for Jamshedpur. The accused took him and the
complainant in his car to Howrah Rly. Station. When the train had left with
Sujan Singh the accused and the complainant returned. She was sitting by the
side "of the accused who was himself driving the car. In the car the
accused told her that he wanted to marry her. She took it as a joke and asked
as to how he could marry her when she was already married. The accused narrated
to her the stories of Draupadi and Shakuntala from the Hindu epics and told her
that a Hindu woman can marry more than one husband. He explained to her that he
wanted to marry her in the Gandharva form as King Dushyant had married
Shakuntala. The complainant believed the representations of the accused and
agreed to such marriage without understanding its significance. The accused
then drove to Dhakuria Lakes in South Calcutta and after parking the car both
of them came out and faced the moon. He married with Harbans. She was induced to believe that it was a valid
marriage and the accused, who had become her husband, had every right on
her. Sujan Singh was recalled to duty in Assam. The children also
went back to Shillong. The complainant did not disclose her marriage to her
husband Sujan Singh as the accused had taken a promise from her that she would
not do so as one day he himself would inform Sujan Singh. During the aforesaid,
period the complainant's former husband used to remain most of the time outside
on duty and even when the complainant went and lived with him or he came and
lived with her at Calcutta she used to have a separate bed and did not allow
him to have marital relations with her. Beginning of May, 1948, she conceived
from the accused. In order to cover up the pregnancy, she called Sujan Singh
from Assam.
The accused treated the complainant with
cruelty and occasionally tortured her. But whenever she went out of Calcutta to
Mussoorie and other stations he entreated her to return. But on her return, she
was subjected to the same cycle of ill-treatment and then cajolery. Sujan Singh
then came to know that his wife was living in adultery with the accused.
Sujan Singh filed a petition in the High Court of Calcutta for the
dissolution of his marriage with the complainant and obtained an ex parte decree against her
on the ground of her adultery with the accused. After the dissolution of her
marriage with Sujan Singh the accused refused, to marry her and cut off his
connections completely. she filed the present complaint.
The Court held
that Dr. Amar Nath Mukerji against his conviction and sentence of one year's
rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 75,000/- under Section 417 I. P. C. and
Smt. Harbans Kaur the prosecutrix, against his acquittal of charges under
Sections 493 and 376 I. P. C. Dr. Amar Nath Mukerji debarred from practice as a
medical practitioner for a period of three years quashed.