Gujarat: Ghar-jamai gets relief in domestic violence complaint by gharwali

AHMEDABAD: Conventionally, courts are not very lenient in dropping cases of matrimonial discord, especially if it involves charges of domestic violence (DV) by the wife. The Gujarat high court, however, recently quashed a DV complaint, essentially because the husband was a ghar-jamai!
The DV plaint was filed by the woman with an oblique motive only to harass the petitioner husband and his parents, the HC observed in its order earlier this week. This came after the husband’s grievance that he was repeatedly humiliated at his father-inlaw’s house forcing him to quit the house and the marriage.
In this case, Bhavnagarnative Sarthak and Anand-resident Bina Bhatti got married in 2000. As Bina’s family was financially well-off, Sarthak chose to live in his fatherin-law’s house in Anand.
Eleven years after living with his in-laws, the ghar jamai moved out in November 2011crying that he was subjected to constant harassment and insult. Employed in a factory owned by his wife’s relative, Sarthak also quit his job.
A year later in 2012, Sarthak filed for divorce in Anand’s court claiming that his wife used to harass him. Four years later in 2016, Bina followed suit filing a domestic violence complaint in the court alleging that her husband and his three family members used to harass her.
‘Ghar-jamai’ himself was a victim of harassment
Sarthak moved the HC for quashing of the DV complaint, where his advocate Kuldeep Vaidya argued that the husband being a ‘ghar jamai’ was himself a victim of harassment which forced him to leave his father-in-law’s house and file for divorce. There was no reason, whatsoever, for the wife for filing a DV complaint against the ‘ghar jamai’ and that too five years after he had left the house. The wife’s advocate argued that delay in filing a DV complaint should not be a ground for quashing a complaint filed under domestic violence laws. After hearing the case, Justice A S Supehia concluded that wife’s complaint contained bald allegations. The court observed that the wife never lived at her matrimonial home, but it was the husband who used to live at the wife’s house. Hence there was no question of complaint against husband’s relatives.
On delayed filing of the complaint, the HC said, “The complainant has to satisfactorily explain about the conduct of remaining silent for all these years.”