My wife, advised by her parents, is planning to file 498a for a false dowry case on me. - What happened: Her parents wanted to give a gift of 5 lac for a car to her. My parents said no to that but they insisted. Nothing happened. Nobody talked about it until now. - Now: She is accusing me of torturing her for this amount. Other than this she is making multiple false accusation for small things like utensils, cooker etc, these amounting to a few thousands. We live in Europe, both earning. The apartment rent, gas/electricity and health insurance costs about 1 lac in rupees per month. This all has been paid by me for last 20 months. In this she was employed for 1 year, but I never asked her to share the total expenses of 12 lac rupees, while she makes 2 lac rupees per month. I also once transferred an amount of 2000 euros (1.5 lac rupees) to her account in India. This basically shows that I am not after her money and obviously not worried about the petty amount of 5 lac rupees. Our bank statements and transfer are the proofs. Does this hold in the Indian court to show that their complain would be false? What should I do to not let them misuse 498a and protect myself? There is absolutely nothing that we asked them for. They did make most of the expenditure (~6 lacs) on the wedding, which was pretty moderate as we all wanted it to be so. Is this expenditure is also counted as dowry and for claim of 498a? Thank you!
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1) in case wife files false 498A case obtain AB from sessions court
2) as far as car is concerned i presume car is in wife name .
3)it was vlounatry gift given by parents to their daughter
4) if car is in your name before wife files case transfer car price to her account
5) you have to contest case on merits to prove your innocence
6) 80 per cent of 498A cases are false and end in acquittal
7) marriage expenses is not counted towards dowry
No need to worry, if they file any case on you and your family then that case will be weak as you have sufficient proof to show and proved your Innocence before the court or police.
Bank transfer is best documentary evidence in your favour.
Feel free to call
1. She shall have to submit evidence in support of her her allegation, if she lodges/files the 498A complaint/case against you and your other family members.
2. If you have not taken the said Rs.2 lakhs or any amount from her in your Bank account or in any other mode which she can submit evidence for, you need not worry at all for her false 498A police complaint.
3. Your claim that you have sent her money at her money will be considered as counter evidence to prove that you have sent her the money in India.
4. Marriage expenditutr incurred by wife's side is not considered as dowry or part thereof.
5. However, should she files a 498A FIR against you or your family members, all the accused shall have to avail anticipatory bail from the Court and then contest the case fittingly.
6. If her 498A FIR is proved false before the Court and the case is dismissed, you can lodge/file a complaint/case against her u/s211 of IPC for lodging/filing false complaint/case against you to cause damage to you.
Thanks for your responses and it was a relief. - How do I file for anticipatory bail from here? Me and my family are all in Europe, though we are all Indian citizens. Is there any danger of arrest if we go to India? I am sorry I was not very clear about car and money transactions: - Car was never bought, we do not need it. She is falsely claiming that I tortured her to pay 5 lac. We never took any money from them, instead with visa dependent on me she earned 5 times of what she earned in india and had to spend nothing. - Our trips to Greece, Italy, France and various places in Netherlands, her dozens of happy pictures with my family, her whatsapp chat with my mother show that she was very happy here. - Once she left for India for delivery of daughter she changed and when I went there for birth of our daughter, her family insulted, tortured and verbally attacked me. I have recordings of that. Until then also she was supportive but once I came back to Netherlands, she degraded in every sense. I asked many times but she would not send pictures of my daughter or send it from distance to aggravate me. I have not seen a picture of her since 10th of December. - The latest thing, she sent an email to my mother with me in CC, falsely complaining her that I demanded for 5 lac, the email is about 3 pages long with 40 bullets. Makes no logical sense, full of false accusations and unbearable choice of words and language, gravely insulting me and my mother. Can I act against her (and family) for this mental harassment of verbal attack (email and recordings) and keeping my daughter away from me? Adv. Ajay Sethi ji: “you have to contest case on merits to prove your innocence” 5. Could you kindly elaborate? Thanks!
1) if FIR is filed in India you have to apply for AB in India
2) once FIR is filed notice would be issued to you to record your statement
3) you have to travel to India have your statement recorded and apply for AB
4) 3 pages email had been sent by your wife as per her lawyer instructions
5) your wife is building a case to file against your family in India
6) contact a lawyer and draft detailed reply denying all her allegations para wise
7) you wife cannot deny you access to your daughter . You can file application in court and claim visitation rights
8) once you obtain AB in false dowry case you have to face trial to prove you are not guilty
1. You can apply for anticipatory bail in India from abroad so you may not be arrested once you touch down India.
If you need my professional services for this feel free to contact me.
2. Once FIR is registered and charge sheet is submitted you can challenge the same in quashing before the high court.
3. If your wife has long term plan to stay in Europe she is unlikely to file such cases.
1. You have stated that they are planning to file the false 498A case. it has not yet been filed.Once it is filed, you shall be sent notice to appear before the police for investigation. You should now lodge a police complaint well in advance alleging that they have threatened you to file false 498A case when you are not in India to harass you and mark a copy of the said complaint to the S.P./D.C. of police. If police converts the complaint to FIR, you shall be informed informed about the same by the police and in that case you shall have to avail anticipatory bail inform local court.
2. Was the said Rs.5 lakhs sent to your account for buying the car or it was sent to your wife's account by her father? If it was not sent to your account then you can not be implicated at all with the allegation of having taken dowry.
3. The evidence of your taking her to various Countries for pleasure trips will prove that you had taken adequate care of herself to counter her allegation of torturing her.
4. You shall have to decide now as to what do you want from this matrimonial relationship. Do you want to continue of terminate it. If you decide to terminate it, you can file a divorce suit against her on the ground of cruelty and you have already collected evidence of her cruel acts against you and your mother.
5. It will be prudent on your part to negotiate with her and go for jointly filing mutual consent divorce petition which will be decided within 6 & 1/2 months from the date of its filing.
1. If and when the FIR gets filed then the persons named as accused in the FIR should apply for and obtain AB which is the only protective cover in India against arrest and detention.
2. The onus to prove her allegations will be on her. There is a presumption of innocence in favour of the accused.
3. You cannot stop her from filing the case but you can contest it fittingly in defence.
