Arrest ‘warrants’ celebration for Bapod man

Vadodara: Lately, police have often taken out processions of several notorious criminals in city to teach them a lesson and shame them.
But on Monday morning, the staff at Bapod police station was surprised when a casual labourer reached there with a procession to turn himself in. An arrest warrant was issued against Hemant Rajput, a resident of Sayajipura, by a family court as he had not paid maintenance to his estranged wife for 27 months.

On Sunday, cops went to Rajput’s house to serve the warrant to him, but he was not present. Policemen were told that he would present himslef in the police station on Monday morning.

On Monday, Rajput’s friends reached his house and garlanded him. Later, they lifted him on their shoulders and took out a procession to reach the police station. Interestingly, his parents and neighbours also joined in the procession. Rajput was then produced before the family court which sentenced him to simple imprisonment of 270 days.

The family court had ordered Rajput to pay maintenance amount of Rs 3,500 every month to Sunita when they separated.

When the outstanding amount increased to Rs 95,500, Sunita filed an application in the family court to recover the amount, yet Rajput did not pay the money. Sources said that he preferred to go to jail instead of paying maintenance as his wife earned more than him. According to police sources, Sunita works in a hospital.

The couple had separated since Sunita did not want to live with Rajput’s parents. When Rajput refused to live in a separate house, the couple started having frequent quarrels and they separated. They filed for divorce and the court ordered Rajput to pay maintenance.