Gujarat: Lights out in couple’s power struggle

AHMEDABAD: The electricity connection to Sonal Thakor’s house at Vasna Keliya village near Dholka was restored earlier this week after the Gujarat high court’s intervention. The HC directed the power company to restore supply after it was disconnected based on an application filed by her husband.
The woman, who is in her early 40s, moved the high court following the disconnection in May by the Uttar Gujarat Vij Company Ltd.Sonal’s husband, Ganpatji, wrote to the power company asking it to cut the house which is in the middle of a 50-bigha farm.
Sonal sought HC directions to the company to restore supply, saying that she had been living in her matrimonial home for 20 years. Her two sons’ names have been added to revenue documents and she has been regularly paying the bills. There was no occasion for UGVCL to disconnect the supply despite her registering her objection on May 24.
When the HC questioned the power company, it said that the company was not concerned with the dispute between husband and wife. The company said if the wife was living in the the matrimonial home, she would be entitled to a connection. The HC ordered the company to restore supply immediately.
According to Sonal’s advocate Dipna Gohel, her client’s husband had tried to harass her client earlier too. There was also an assault that resulted in an FIR for attempted murder. The couple have been involved in multiple litigations over 10 years. Sonal, who is from Maharashtra married Ganpat 20 years ago, as he did not have a son from his first wife, the lawyer said adding that there is an age difference of 30 years between the spouses.
Sonal bore Ganpat two sons. When their dispute began, Ganpat moved to his first wife and sent his two sons to a boarding school in Mt Abu. Sonal unsuccessfully approached a court in Dholka for custody of the boys last year. She also filed a complaint under the Domestic Violence Act and filed a civil suit as well for partition of the property.