Woman allowed to redeem jewels pledged by estranged husband

She had lodged a dowry harassment complaint against him and his family

The Madras High Court Bench here has permitted a woman to redeem jewels that were pledged with a nationalised bank by her estranged husband after she claimed that they were her jewels and he was not cooperating in retrieving them since she had lodged a dowry harassment complaint against him and his family.

Disposing of a writ petition filed by her, Justice V. Parthiban directed the Pudukottai branch manager of Canara Bank to hand over the jewels to the writ petitioner. He observed that she could not be denied the right to redeeem her jewels especially when she had already discharged the entire loan amount through her funds.

“However, this Court is conscious that the interest of the respondent bank should also be protected in case of any claim by the husband of the petitioner in future. In the above circumstances, the respondent bank is directed to return the jewels pledged by the petitioner's husband to the petitioner by directing the petitioner to execute an Indemnity Bond,” he ordered. The judge gave liberty to the bank to impose any condition which it would think fit and proper in the facts and circumstances of the case before handing over the jewels to the petitioner within eight weeks.