The court emphasized that personal hardships of the wife must be considered in transfer petitions related to matrimonial disputes.

JUDGMENT

The petitioner wife seeks transfer of O.P.No.652 of

2025, filed by the respondent before the Family Court, Malappuram, seeking a decree of divorce, to the Family Court, Vadakara.

2. The petitioner states that she is permanently residing at Vadakara in Kozhikode district and she has to travel more than 100 kilometers to reach the Family Court, Malappuram to contest the case and there is none in her family to assist or accompany her. It is further stated that she is presently employed in Bengaluru.

3. Heard Sri. Rishi Varma T.R., the learned counsel for the petitioner and Sri. K. Arjun Venugopal, the learned counsel for the respondent.

4. It is submitted by the learned counsel for the respondent that the convenience of the wife is not the paramount consideration in an application for transfer filed under Section 24 of the Code of Civil Procedure . The learned counsel relied on the decision of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh at Jabalpur in Smt. Ekta Vaish v. Deepak Kuchbandiya , [Neutral citation No. 2026 : MPHC - JBP :

14249] in support of the said contention.

5. The Hon'ble Supreme Court in the decisions in Vaishali Shridhar Jagtap v. Shridhar Vishwanath Jagtap [2016 (14) SCC 356] , Rajwinder Kaur v. Balwinder Singh [2003 (11) SCC 726], Sumitha Singh v. Kumar Sanjay & Another [2001 (10) SCC 41] and Mona Aresh Goel v.Aresh Satya Goel [2000 (9) SCC 255] and the Division Bench of this Court in Rajam Babu v. Babu K.K [2023 (4) KHC 361] have held that the hardships and difficulties faced by the wife should be adequately taken note of by the Courts while dealing with the plea for transfer of cases in matrimonial proceedings.

6. The learned counsel for the respondent submits that if the Original Petition is transferred to the Family Court at Kozhikode, it will be convenient for both the petitioner and the respondent. However, even according to the respondent, the petitioner will have to travel more than 54 kilometers from her residence to reach the Family Court, Kozhikode.

In the facts and circumstances of the case and taking note of the plea regarding the inconvenience of the petitioner to contest the case at Family Court, Malappuram, I am of the view that the request for transfer of the petition can be allowed. Accordingly, the transfer petition is allowed. O.P.No.652/2025 pending on the files of the Family Court, Malappuram shall stand withdrawn and transferred to the Family Court, Vadakara.

Sd/-