I and my wife have been married close to 6 years; we started having differences and petty fights but did not have any major differences.
Before our wedding she had asked me specifically if I would like to settle in the US to which I had said no and that in case she was keen to do so, I would not go ahead with our marriage.
However, she kept clandestinely trying to get a transfer to the US after we got married and a little under 4 years after our wedding got the opportunity. When she broke the news to me she mentioned it as a "temporary " transfer for 1 year. Since we had a 1.5 year old daughter at this time, I was not very keen but since I did not want her career to suffer did not stop her from moving with my daughter to the US.
To my surprise, I soon discovered that her relocation was permanent and that she had assumed that I will follow her. She did not care to discuss, consult or convince me about the permanent move - just shifted and then started telling me that it was a great opportunity for me to move to. I have both personally and professionally never wanted to move to the US and was not keen. But more than my unwillingness to move to the US, I was aghast at the way she handled the whole thing - hiding her intentions from me and then hoping / assuming that since the child is with her, I would be emotionally pressured to leave my 13 year well paying career to start afresh in the US! In fact she would regularly tell me that she was doing me a favor by giving me a chance to move the US!!
It has been almost 2 years since she has gone with my kid; initially she kept telling me that she will come back if I do not find a good job in the US. I agreed to look for jobs and made visits to the US for the same but when I could not get a suitable option, she would say that I am not trying hard enough and kept extending the timeline for her to come back. Finally, I even agreed to take a 3-month unpaid leave from my work to again come to the US to look for a job.
In the meanwhile, she found a video of me casually interacting with a woman colleague on my phone that I had left in the US on my last trip - she has been now threatening me with dire consequences which she believes will happen if she releases the video to the public. The video just has me hugging a colleague and does not amount to adultry or anything close to it. I have been faithful to her all this time but she is threatening me with divorce saying that alimony / maintenance payments she will be able to claim will ruin me.
I need a view from your esteemed selves on what my rights are in this case. Can / should i file for desertion and restitution of conjugal rights? I am very concerned about her taking away my life's earnings in the name of alimony and maintenance. I know laws are loaded in favor of women these days and am therefore very concerned which is why I am even ok with being in a compromised "dead" marriage to avoid having to lose my hard earned money. However, if my case is considered to be strong (given that she deserted me) and I can be released without payment of maintenance or alimony, then I would definitely like to get out of this marriage ASAP.
She earns over $4500 per month in the US and her parents are very well off with multiple properties in Delhi.
Many thanks
