September 6, 2000

 

Question 

 

Dear Lawyer

 

I want to know that if I want to divorce my husband or if my husband sends divorce letter, in that case, where will my daughter stay? My daughter is five months old.

 

Answer

 

Dear

Thank you for your query. I assume that you are conversant with the procedure of divorce. Who ever may initiate the divorce considering the age of the child, it is almost certain that you will have the custody of the child. The mother has the right to claim custody of the child until the child reach the age of 9 years. However, I should warn you that you should not allow the father to have custody of the child at any stage. Once the child is in custody of the father it would be difficult to have the child back because of slow progress of custody cases. As a precautionary measure you could file a suit in the family court seeking declaration that the child should remain in your custody until she/he attains the age of majority.

In this respect you can contact Dr. Faustina Parrera, Ain O Shalish Kendro, Phone 8315851.

Tell her that you have been referred by Barrister Tanjib-ul Alam.

Yours
B2K lawyer

 

June 15, 2000

 

Question 

 

Dear Lawyer

I am a government employee. I love a young man who is my colleague. But my brother-in-law can't tolerate our love as I have some assets which I inherited from my father. In the meantime, my corrupted brother-in-law made a falls bridegroom between his unemployed & illiterate brother and me by pressuring on me without my opinion. Now, he always threatening me that he will kill me & they are  physically torturing me. 

 

Dear lawyer, please help me & tell me how can I get my love & make my conjugal life with my young man colleague. Looking forward to hearing from you soon. With Thanks. 

 

Answer

 

Dear

If I understand your query correctly, it appears that being an adult there is no legal bar in you getting married with the person of your choice.

With regard to pressure from your family, I would suggest you to act carefully. You should try to bring your family on your side through consultation.

You wrote that your "brother-in-law" arranged a bridegroom from among his colleague. Do you mean that you already got married, albeit against your will, with the person? If that is the case then in order to get married to your "young colleague" you will have to get divorced first. Assuming that Kabin nama (clause 18) gives you power to divorce, you can send a Divorce Notice to the Chairman, Law and Shalish Department, Dhaka City Corporation, Nagar Bhaban, Gulistan, Dhaka. A copy of the divorce notice should be sent to the husband. After expiry of 90 days you would get divorced automatically. If the kabin nama does not allow the wife to divorce the wife, one has to file a suit before the family court seeking judicial separation.

Assuming that you have not got married with the person chosen by your brother-in-law, you can certainly get married with your "young colleague". With regard to physical torture you are advised to lodge an FIR in the relevant Police Station where you live.

I trust this will suffice for your present purposes. Please do not hesitate to contact us should you need further advice.
 

Yours
B2K lawyer

 

 

June 27, 2000

 

Question

 

Dear Lawyer

 

I appreciate your taking the time to answer my question and for providing this service. I am moving out of my current residence and my landlord is threatening to take me to court over the following items:

A) An entire set of dishes.  I accidentally broke a plate in a set of dishes that my landlord asked me not to use. I had forgotten her request, which came half-way through my two-year stay in her townhouse. Am I legally responsible for paying for the entire set of dishes or just reimbursing her for the plate that I broke?

B) A dining room chair. According to my landlord, a guest of mine left a small stain on one of her cloth covered dining room chairs.  This occurred nine months ago, and she didn't say anything to me about it until two days ago. I never noticed the stain. Am I legally responsible for the cost of the chair when this wasn't pointed out to me earlier, and--I believe--there is no way to prove my guest caused the stain.
 

C) A wine-bottle opener.  She claims that a guest of mine stole her wine-bottle opener.  She didn't see it, but noticed it was missing the day after the guest was in the house.  Again, she made no mention of this event until nine months later.  Am I legally responsible? So you know, B and C occurred during a book club party I had with people from work.  These are professionals in the publishing field.  No one had more than two drinks.  Thing s were not out of control, and I can't imagine one of my coworkers risking his/her professional reputation over a wine bottle opener. I would appreciate your response as soon as possible. Thank you so much for your time.

 

Answers

Dear

Thank you for your questions. I shall try to answer your queries in turn.

At the outset I must tell you that your landlady may not have meant to say that she would really file a suit. This may be a simple threat to compel you to pay her for the alleged claims. If she wants to bring the suit, she would have to bring it by way of filing a money suit before the District Court. She would need to pay court fee, lawyers fee etc. and there is no guarantee that she would be able to recover her damages within very short
time.
 
A. With regard to compensation for breaking a plate which is part of a dish set, whether you need to replace the whole set or just pay for the price of the broken plate would depend on the condition of the contract (if there is any written contract at all). From your query it is not clear in what form you were "warned" by your landlady.
 
Since you are responsible for breaking the plate, you would be required to replace the whole set if you were "warned" about the consequence of such damage, in the absence of such specific warning there is a strong ground to argue that your responsibility is only to indemnify her for the plate only, because she is under a duty to mitigate her loss.
 
Should you be held responsible for the whole dish set, you would be able to claim that dish set from which a plate was broken.

B. Advice on damage to the chair. You stated that the stain was on the cloth which was covering the chair. If that is so then you may be responsible for such "damage" provided that she can prove that the damage was caused at a time when the subject matter of the damage was in your "control". She would need to establish that there was no stain at the time you took delivery of the chair. Laps of nine months is not a defense unless she has waived her right to claim damage. It is not clear from your question whether there has been any waiver on her part.

C. Advice on Wine bottle opener Assuming that your landlady would be able to establish that the wine bottle opener was at all handed over to you when you took possession of the house, you would be responsible for loss of the wine bottle opener. The fact that you do not know who has stolen it and you do not believe that your collogue may do it, would not be a defense inasmuch as the wine bottle opener was stolen at a time when you were in occupation and control of the house. Therefore you would be liable.
 
N.B. The above advice is given on the assumption that Bangladesh laws are the applicable law.

  Yours

  B2k lawyer

 

July 18, 2000

 

Question

 

Dear Lawyer

 

I Have been separated from my husband for more 8 months , where do I stand in respect of divorce. Also what will happen to the land promised me in light of a separation?

Answer

Dear

Law relating to divorce varies from country to country. Assuming that the applicable law is Bangladesh law, rights of separated spouse would depend on the religion of the spouse. Assuming  further that you are a Muslim, your right to divorce would depend on the terms of the marriage contract. However, during the period of separation you are entitled to "maintenance". You can also claim dower money whichever amount is outstanding.

With regard to the entitlement to the house, you can claim the house if you can show that there has been a 'gift' in your favor. It is not clear whether the gift was unconditional or contingent. your entitlement to the house would depend on the nature of the promise. I would be able to give more specific advice if you give me more details.

Yours

B2k Lawyer

July 20, 2000

 

Question

 

Dear Lawyer

 

I am a human resource assistant for a very large company.  The company is very big on "good citizenship" and has encouraged staff to seek out volunteer opportunities. It is a great idea to present these opportunities and the causes are admirable.  However, for many people outside commitments are too demanding.  These people feel that excelling at their job for 8 hours a day and not participating in the volunteer opportunities should not have a negative affect on their performance and may be  discriminatory.

 

What do I say to them?  Thank you.

Answer

 

Dear

 

While the idea of encouraging the employees to "good citizenship" and volunteer activities may create a very positive image regarding the corporation, the fact remains that it is indeed an optional matter for the employees. Therefore, each employee should have the option to keep themselves away from the activities which the Company may wish them to participate in. Any discrimination on account of "non-participation" would certainly be in violation of the Constitutional rights of the employee. Once the Company starts insisting on participation of its employees in "voluntary activities" the affairs does not remain "voluntary" anymore. It become part of their job which may not be desirable. 
 
In order to avoid an allegation of discrimination as a responsible officer of the Company you should make it clear to the employee that the Company does not intend to discriminate on the ground of their volunteer activities (unless the Company management decides otherwise).

 

Yours

B2k Lawyer
 

July 21, 2000

 

Question

 

Dear Lawyer

 

Is it possible to change one's birth date legally?  If so, how does one go about it?

Answer

Dear

The answer to the query would depend whether one is trying to rectify any error or not. One's birthday can not be changed as such for once a person is born there is no way that such date could be changed. Even if a different date is described as "birth day" the fact remains that that person was born on the date different from what is on record.
 
However, if someone mistakenly put his wrong birthday such error can be rectified by an affidavit before the Notary Public or the First Class Magistrate. In appropriate cases an advertisement may be needed to formalize the matter.

 

 Your

 B2k Lawyer