MUMBAI: A divorced wife cannot be said to be a widow and eligible for compensation after her former husband's death, the Bombay high court has ruled in a crucial judgment. Five years after Nagpur resident Kishore Tode died in a mishap at work, Justice S B Shukre quashed an order that had given his first wife, Vandana, whom he had divorced in 1996, 50% of the compensation from the employer.
"A widow is a woman, as we understand from the meaning of the term in its ordinary sense, whose husband is dead and who has not married again," said Justice Shukre. "A man is husband of a woman only as long as there is no snapping of matrimonial relations by a divorce or dissolution of marriage or death," added the judge. The court was hearing a petition filed by Tode's second wife, Varsha, and their three minor children against Vandana.
"Vandana cannot be said to be enjoying the status of widow of the deceased (and) she would be out of the scope and ambit of the definition of the term 'dependent' as given under the Workmen's Compensation Act, which describes, inter alia, a widow of a deceased workman as his dependant," the court said.
Kishore, who was an employee of Western Coal Fields in Chandrapur, died on June 4, 2009, after a heap of sand collapsed on him and he was buried alive. His body was found on June 12. Since he died at work, his employer deposited Rs 3.51 lakh as compensation with the labour commissioner. The authority passed an order granting 50% of the compensation to Vandana and the remaining to Varsha and her children.
Varsha's lawyers challenged the order in the HC and pointed out that Vandana and Tode had divorced by mutual consent as per custom of Buddhist religion in 1996 and she was living separately since then. A year later, Tode had married Varsha and they had three children. The lawyers argued that since Vandana was the divorced wife, she could not be termed as a widow. The court agreed and ruled that the entire compensation should be divided equally among Varsha and the couple's three children.
Original NEWS Source:- http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2014-01-23/mumbai/46512685_1_vandana-varsha-widow
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