Check before choosing NRI groom, cautions HC The Court was delivering judgement in the case of a woman who said her husband harassed her after she moved with him to the US. Parents who dream of getting their daughters married to grooms settled abroad have been cautioned by the Bombay High Court to run a thorough check on the credentials of prospective husbands. Delivering a judgement in a divorce case, the HC observed, "This is an eye-opener for parents whose daughters are going to marry a person settled in a foreign country... they must take appropriate care to find out the credentials of the person." The division bench of Justice P.B. Majmudar and Justice RV More upheld a divorce between a computer engineer from Nashik and a Mumbai-based woman after she proved mental harassment allegations against him, including posting vulgar photographs of her on the internet. She has also filed a case against him with the Cyber Cell of Mumbai Police. The two were married in June, 2002 at Nashik as per Hindu rites, after which the woman moved to the US with her husband. In her divorce application in the family court, she had alleged that she was forced to change her lifestyle and follow American ways. "He insisted that I cut my hair and forced me to eat beef and pork, which I had to cook at home. He also forced me to drink alcohol," said her application. The woman also alleged that she was forced to wear vulgar clothes and hobnob with men against her wishes. She alleged that whenever she observed a fast, her husband forced her to cook non-vegetarian food, calling her "conservative and backward". When she returned to her parents’ home after seven months of marriage, to appear in her MA exams, she wrote to her husband, seeking divorce by mutual consent, but he refused. "He later sent a letter seeking divorce, but still continued to harass me. He posted an advertisement for my second marriage, with vulgar photographs and text on the internet," she alleged. She also claimed that her husband was medically unfit. The woman had sought maintenance of Rs 75,000 per month and return of her ‘streedhan’, ie, gifts given to her at the time of marriage. But, during the final hearing of the divorce case, she withdrew her maintenance plea, to end the marriage without delay. The court, while upholding the family court verdict, observed: "The act of publishing such photographs on Web sites is extremely shocking. It is unfortunate that a woman is required to undergo such torture at the hands of her husband." Full text of the judgment can be made available if required.
