Orpington businessman Kaushik Pramanik chased wife with stick

Businessman Kaushik Pramanik, 49, was found guilty of engaging in controlling and coercive behaviour and assault – but he was spared jail when he turned up to court wearing an oxygen mask saying he was too ill to be in prison. 

As he left court a free man he told News Shopper “the problem with this country is that law is for the women".

Mr Pramanik also said “I always respect women” before clarifying “except this time because I so wanted my children to live the family life.” 

Kaushik Pramanik leaving Inner London Crown Court on Tuesday November 21 (Image: Newsquest)

At a sentencing hearing on Tuesday (November 21) prosecutor Amelia Norman said the couple married in February 2010, had three children together and had a good relationship until they moved to England in 2016. 

Mr Pramanik, of High Street in St Mary Cray, soon started trying to control his wife. 

He was particularly annoyed by the fact that she wanted to get a job as a cleaner, which he thought was demeaning. 

He tried to prevent her from applying for jobs and applied for other jobs on her behalf, before resorting to trying to publicly humiliate her. 

“You sent a number of messages to the street group chat saying that cleaners are prostitutes, intending to humiliate your wife in front of the few friends you had in the area,” Judge Freya Newbery said. 

Judge Newbery said this frustration turned Mr Pramanik cruel, often making racist remarks about his wife’s Russian relatives. 

Prosecutor Ms Norman said: “He had so much control over her as he said she would be deported if he did not do what he said.” 

He also became increasingly violent and on one occasion Mr Pramanik chased his wife around the garden with a stick, the court heard. 

Matters came to a head on October 30 last year when he launched a savage attack on her. 

“At around 5.30pm she was brushing her teeth. There had been a conversation about divorce at which point you became angry. You slapped her in the face then hit her in the face with a mobile phone multiple times,” Judge Newbery said. 

As well as being physically injured, Mrs Pramanik said the incident left her fearful of further violence. 

“It came to the point where she either waited for you to go to sleep until she could hear you snoring, or she slept in the conservatory so she could get into the garden quickly in case you attacked her,” Judge Newbery said. 

Mr Pramanik, who works as a business consultant and claims to have studied at Oxford, Cambridge and Harvard, denied all charges but was found guilty by a jury. 

Defending him at Inner London Crown Court, barrister Rebecca Thomas said: “Mr Pramanik considers his family to be his pride and joy, the greatest achievement of his life. So when he felt this was under threat this might go some way to explain why he behaved in such an extreme way.” 

Ms Thomas added: “He misguidedly thought he was acting in the best interest of himself, his children and his wife.” 

Ms Thomas also told the court that Mr Pramanik was in poor health and is suffering from angina, meaning he would not cope well in prison. 

Sentencing him, Judge Newbery said: “I think you are quite a self-regarding person, Mr Pramanik. You protest about putting your family first but you seem to exhibit a total lack of empathy. 

“Your frustration rendered you cruel, and it revealed you to be a totally irrational and controlling person.” 

In contrast, Judge Newbery added: “I found the victim to be a dignified, rational and highly intelligent woman who acted to protect the children from your lack of rationality towards the end of your marriage.” 

She gave Mr Pramanik a 30-week sentence, suspended for one year – meaning he won’t see the inside of a prison cell unless he offends again during that time. 

Judge Newbery decided against making him carry out unpaid work, which would usually be the punishment, as he was not well enough. 

She also ordered him to pay £3,000 towards the cost of his trial. 

As he left court a free man, Mr Pramanik told News Shopper: “The problem with this country is that law is for the women.” 

He added that he always respects women, before adding: “Except this time because I so wanted my children to live the family life.”