In a fresh development in the unending Sumit-Tapaswini marital discord saga, Sumit Sahu on Tuesday knocked the Orissa High Court’s door against an earlier order passed by a District court.
Challenging the direction passed by the Court of the District and Sessions judge, Ganjam on January 4, Sumit filed a petition before the Orissa High Court today.
The District court had ordered that Tapaswini Dash will stay in Sumit’s paternal house in Bramahnagar in Berhampur. The court had also directed Sumit to pay Rs 17,000 every month as maintenance to Tapaswini.
Sumit’s advocate Byomakesh Tripathy on Tuesday said both the orders passed by the Court of the District and Sessions judge were wrong.
“Both Sumit and Tapaswini have not been on good terms. Given their souring relationship, we term the District court’s direction to the estranged couple, asking them to live under one roof, inappropriate. We also term the District court’s second order directing Sumit to pay Rs 17,000 to Tapaswini towards her maintenance cost as an influenced order,” said Tripathy.
“There are many such cases running for months and maintenance is yet to be fixed. Whereas, in this case, the interim maintenance was fixed without any hearing,” Tripathy alleged.
Sumit said he has been under tremendous mental pressure due to the ongoing feud. “We have lost whatever respect we had in society. I don’t think we could recover from it in this birth. I am under mental pressure for which I have been in leave,” said Sahu explaining his mental turmoil.
Notably, Tapaswini had launched a sit-in in front of Sumit’s residence in Brahmanagar in Berhampur on November 22. She had launched her strike from a make-shift tent.