Me and my wife had an arranged marriage in 2017. I am the only child of my parents while she has a younger brother and her father is a lawyer himself. I work in a high pressure Sales & Marketing job from a lower middle class set of parents. She is an Architect belonging to an upper middle class set of parents. Although I realised that many things were wrong as portrayed by her and her family, the first 1.5 years of marriage, me and my parents supported her and all her demands in all possible ways while also having very good relations with her family without any expectations from them at any stage. In late 2018, I lost both my grandparents, my father was diagnosed with advanced stage cancer while I also lost my job. At the same time, she was also pregnant and hence me and my parents were extremely happy for the upcoming child while I also managed to get a new job. Her parents and she wanted to cater to her pregnancy and maternity for the first child at their place and so she went to her home in early 2019 after the baby shower. They started changing colours soon after manipulating, dominating and harassing me and my parents all the more after the birth of the child. They would create unnecessary drama, provocation and intimidation whenever we would want to visit or access the child and she said that she shall not come home with the child as the situation is not good at home. While some of my relatives and friends tried to reconcile between us and I even suggested marriage counselling, she and her family started using the child as a weapon against me and and family blackmailing me to leave parents, find a separate accommodation for her and pay her hefty maintenance per month while I was already under debt of home loan and supporting my father's treatment. She came home in late 2019 in a planned and conspired manner when no one was home to take away jewellery (her and even mine & my parents) and idols from temple without informing and acknowledging that she had taken it. I had made police complaints regarding their acts but they refused to take my complaint as her father is a lawyer himself and he made some influential visits to the police station. This worsened my father's existing illness along with lack of access to his grandson and he passed away in early 2020. I lost my job again through all this and then Covid & lockdown came through. I somehow managed to find a job after lockdown but she and her family filed a false Domestic Violence case against me and my mother 1 year ago with baseless allegations. While I have engaged a lawyer, they continue to demand heavy maintenance, damages, etc while me not having accessed my son for 2 years. I have been through extensive depression for last 1 year and can't understand how to get out of this scenario since they have orchestrated all this to keep control and domination over the child while extracting money from me and my mother now that my father is gone.
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Since your wife is highly qualified and working she would not get maintenance if there is not substantial differences in your incomes
2) since your wife refuses to stay with you file for divorce on grounds of mental cruelty and desertion
3) wife refusing to stay with husband for continuous period of 2 years amounts to desertion and is ground for divorce
4) seek joint custody of your child
The false DV case has been ongoing for last 1 year and my current lawyer has been competently fighting amidst lockdowns but still they have managed to get order passed for pre-school admission of 2 year old child and pushing for distress warrant for not co-operating with fees payment as well as filing of affidavit for assets & liabilities. They continue to falsely claim that her jewellery & stridhan are in my possession and do not let the merits of the case or dismissal for me and my mother come up for argument with new applications and theatrics every-time. They have prepared for 1 year since child's birth until filing case by manipulating incomes, bank statements, expenses, etc and being ready for legal extortion while denying me access to the child.
You have to comply with court orders for filing affidavit of assets and liabilities
deny that jewellery is in your possession as alleged
act as per your lawyer advice
Law is in favor of women and they know it very well. Any legal action by you will provoke them to file multiple cases against you. You can only file restitution of conjugal rights and divorce case against her which are civil cases. She can file number of criminal cases against you and your family. I am not trying to scare you but that is bitter reality. Your best option is to settle with her and convince her for divorce by mutual consent and get out of situation. So far as custody of son is concerned, under Section 6 of Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, 1956, custody of child below five years will be with mother with visiting rights to father and custody after five years of age will be father with visiting rights to mother. Hands of you lawyer are tied, law being what it is. She not win some cases but facing trial is more than punishment. Talk to them and close the chapter, you have full life ahead of you.
- As per Supreme Court judgment, wife is expected to move in with the relatives of their husbands, follow the rules and customs of their home, and ideally, blend in seamlessly as a new daughter.
- Further, the court granted divorce to a man on the grounds of “cruelty” after his wife refused to share a home with her in-laws.
- Hence, as per law, she cannot deny living with you, under the condition of separate living from the family.
- Further, If wife is not supporting her husband for the enjoyment of life and denying relation, then the husband can get divorce after filing a divorce petition before the court on this ground.
- Further if she has concealed certain facts at the time of marriage then on this ground marriage can be declared as null and void by the court.
- Further being a natural guardian you have right to visit your child and even to get the custody after filing a petition before the court.
- Further, if she is not interested to live with you without any sufficient reasons then she cannot claim maintenance from you .
- Further , if she is qualified then after siting she cannot claim maintenance from you legally .
You can contact me , if further suggestion needed.
Dear Sir
Considering the fact that she is highly qualified with big earning capacity, you are not legally obliged to pay per any alimony for her maintenance or welfare.
However the court may still ask you to pay for the expenses of looking after your son.
Her deserting you is valid grounds for divorce and do insist on shared custody of the child or at least regular visitation rights.
Thank you
Dear sir,
follow the directions of the lawyer and quash the FIR before the High Court.
Also if you want to reconcile the differences then you file a RCR petition before the family court.
If you want to go for divorce then you can file a counter case on the grounds of mental cruelty and state the whole case along with the evidences. Also you can seek the custody of the child.
Thank you
If she has filed the DV case, you can challenge the same on merits.
You do not have to bow down to their pressure tactics.
If she is asking for maintenance, you may decline the same and let she prove your income with documentary evidence, the court will decide the quantum of maintenance based on proved income provided she is not employed or having any source of income to sustain her expenses.
You can file a child custody case and ask for periodical visitation rights to visit your child as an interim relief, let the court decide based on the facts and as per provisions of law.
If they have filed the DV case with false allegations and on the basis of fake and forged documents, you can very well deny them and challenge them during trial proceedings.
The pre-school expenses for a child of just two years old is just an absurd claim, you can put this point before court and argue that they have approached court with unclean hands and intentions malafide.
As the matter is being handled by your advocate effectively, you may thoroughly follow it up.
You don't have any other way to contest the same. You can challenge the exorbitant maintenance in appellate court. You can also go for quashing in HC if your case has merits
