Mangaluru
In the fake divorce decree case that was registered in the Bunder police station of the city eight years ago, CID investigated the matter as per the order of the high court and has named a woman lawyer and her clerk as accused.
CID police have successfully cracked the fake court decree case that created quite a sensation in the city. In addition, it is also clear that the accusation made against the renowned senior lawyer of the city M P Noronha is false
As per the details of the case, a man, a resident of the city, had approached a woman lawyer in order to divorce his first wife as he was in love with another woman. He applied for divorce from the court and also got a divorce decree in July 2005. Subsequently, the man fell down from the third floor of his house at Balmatta and died.
After the death of the man, differences arose between the first and second wives over the sharing of bonds and fixed deposits that were originally in the name of the deceased person. A case was filed in court by the first wife in this connection.
The second wife, in this case, believed that the marriage divorce decree of the first wife was true and, in the year 2009, submitted the same through her lawyer M P Noronha. However, when the decree was scrutinized in the court, it came to light that the decree was fake. Immediately the second wife had given an affidavit in the court that said the court decree was provided to her by a woman advocate, and believing that it was a genuine decree, she had handed it over to advocate Noronha to be produced before the court. Immediately, in 2009 itself, M P Noronha withdrew himself from the case in order to uphold the dignity and prestige of the court as well as the legal profession.
In spite of all these facts, in 2014, five years after the case, certain individuals, with an ulterior motive, had made false propaganda in newspapers that lawyer Noronha had created a fake divorce decree and presented it to the court. In addition, a message defaming lawyer Noronha was made viral on social media. Bunder police station personnel investigated the complaint and had filed a charge sheet on a woman in this connection. Subsequently, the case was referred to CCB police for further investigation. Later as per the order of the Karnataka high court, the case was handed over to CID. The CID police investigated the whole case and filed an additional charge sheet against the senior woman lawyer of the city and her clerk in the court.
It is clear that the accusation made against lawyer M P Noronha was false. Though there is a law that the lawyers will not be held responsible for the records provided by their clients in order to defend their stand in court, some people tried to defame lawyer Noronha in newspapers and social media, saying that Noronha himself had created the fake divorce decree.
It may be recalled that recently principal senior civil court ordered B V Seetharam of Karavali Ale newspaper, editor Sathish N Vaidya, managing director Rohini Seetharam and Aradhana Printers to tender an apology in their newspaper within 30 days clarifying that the report that was published against senior lawyer M P Noronha is false and defamatory in nature. If not, the court ordered them to undergo a prison sentence of 15 days.
