Magistrate pulled up for denying maternity leave
21.03.2025
Chennai: Dubbing it as “inhuman”, Madras high court censured a judicial magistrate for denying maternity leave to an office assistant who remarried after the demise of her first husband, on the grounds that there was no proof of her second marriage.
Kodavasal, the district munsif-cum-judicial magistrate of Thiruvarur, even went to the extent of speculating that the second marriage appeared to have taken place after the pregnancy. Setting aside the order returning the application for maternity leave, a division bench of Justice R Subramanian and Justice G Arul Murugan directed the registrar-general of the HC to pay Rs 1 lakh as compensation for the mental agony the woman suffered.
“It is high time judicial officers reform themselves and take a pragmatic view of things,” HC said, adding, “The action of the judicial officer, to say the least, is inhuman. At a time when even live-in relationships are recognised by the Supreme Court, the judicial officer appears to have taken an archaic view of the matter.” —Sureshkumar K
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