TECHNICALITY - DIR & FORM I , II , III
In first date get Petition copy. Then carefully check if the petition is just the Form II affidavit or does it also include Form I and Form III along with it.
Form I is DIR similar to FIR for Criminal cases.
Form III is an affidavit from wife saying she is under immediate threat to her life and needs protection and ex-parte interim order for maintenance.
TECHNICALITY:- Without Form III the Magistrate by law is NOT AUTHORISED to grant ex-parte order.
Form I is where the exact date, time, place, and person causing DV is documented.
This is usually filled by a Protection Officer (public official appointed by State Govt) and it must be filled usually within 24 hours of an incident being reported.
The PO must sign this form and send a copy of this form to local police station, magistrate and service providers. If this was not done or PO never signed a Form I for the alleged incident, then wife CANNOT file Form III and Magistrate therefore CANNOT issue ex-parte interim maintenance order simply based on Form II affidavit of domestic violence complaint.
CHALLENGE THIS TECHNICALITY THRU PREL OBJ
Cooking up this form in future with old dates is very difficult due to lack of witness support and often neighbours where incident is alleged to have happened will say otherwise in support of husband’s family. So its a risk for PO or Magistrate to cook this up later – they can loose they jobs.
Also Form I and III forces wife to actually declare the exact address and dates of shared household relationship and in cases where there were many changes some contradiction is bound to surface to your advantage.
A certified copy of the petition with all forms can be obtained from the court clerk or section officer as its required for any future Stay or Quash petitions. This protection in Form I and III are carefully built into the DV act but due to ignorance of the public and lawyers at large and given the “settlement culture” most have no experience of having gone this far in litigation.
STAY ORDER OF DV
If Form I or III are missing or Form II claims by wife/woman DOES NOT match Form I or III claims, then immediately apply for a Stay order of interim order or DV case itself in Sessions or High Court. Most High Court filing section staff will insist on Form I, II and III coming together while filing for Stay or Quash of DV cases.
Once Magistrate or wife’s lawyer learns about High Court asking for Form I and III and they did not review it before getting the ex-parte interim order passed, you will usually see panic as they know the game is up and they will soon get caught and will be willing to settle the case or even get it dismissed with prejudice.
Its usually a good idea to goto the section officer on first hearing date and get him/her to give in writing if Form I or III is missing. Use your Smartphone, switch on video recording or have someone do it and record that entire conversation with you mentioning the date and time and place where you are somewhere in the conversation – “example: is this the XX Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court Section office – today DD-MMM-YYYY we had case no: xx of 2015 hearing and we want to get the forms and documents certified copy of the case filed”. If those Forms were never submitted and Magistrate played along with the woman’s lawyer, an admission by the section officer or court clerk that forms are missing or are not on file will be your first proof of malpractice or corruption in the DV case proceedings. In such a scenario apply for stay order in court above this court and order the case file to be submitted as court clerk has admitted to missing forms. If forms appear magically later on you can allege afterthought.