Bank asked to re-deposit money released from frozen account.

A harassed husband who learnt that that his wife had withdrawn Rs 3.20 lakh from the joint account despite his request to the bank to freeze it approached the additional Pune district Consumer Grievance Redressal Forum.Forum president Anjali Deshmukh and member S K Pacharne gave the order in the case asking the bank to recover the money from the woman and reimburse the complainant. What's worse? The bank would have to compensate the man with a sum of Rs 20,000 on account of mental harassment.The case pertains to a Nana Peth based doctor Abhay (name change to protect their identity) who moved his plaint before the forum on July 30, last year against Indian Bank.Abhay had alleged that as soon as he and his wife had begun to live separately he had written to the bank requesting them to freeze the account jointly held by couple since 2001. This, to prevent his wife from withdrawing any amount until orders were given by the family court about their divorce case.Much to Abhay's surprise, his 2011 bank statement revealed that between August 18 to 22, his wife had withdrawn Rs 3.20 lakh from the same account on three different occasions.The bank however, claimed they were being falsely implicated in the case and that not only the bank but also the wife should be implicated in the case. Bank pointed that when the an account gets frozen one cannot operate the account. However, when the account was frozen, the particular bank system was in manual form.Forum passed a verdict in favour of the husband and has directed the bank to collect the amount of Rs 3.20 lakh from Abhay's wife and again re-deposit in the same frozen joint account. The decision on distribution of the amount will be taken up by the family court.Many such cases..City-based Men's Right Association claimed that this is not the first incident where wife have withdrawn the amount from frozen account. Pune chapter president Mahesh Shinde said, "During counselling we have many cases where this is the most of the common complaint. Despite the bank being requested to freeze the accounts, the wife and her relatives have misuse not only the joint accounts but also the fixed deposit amount is withdrawn without husband's approval. This order of consumer forum will help many citizens."