My close friend was married in 2008. In early 2011, he was blessed with a son. When the child was one and a half month old, parents of my friend's wife took the wife and child to their home for a week. After a week when my friend went to his in-laws house to take back his wife and son, his in-laws and wife refused to come back. They demanded and blackmailed my friend that he should stay separate from his parents only then his wife and son will come back. They also demanded heavy monthly sum for the wife expenditure. Reason given was pettly quarrels between my friend's family (esp. mother) and his wife.
More than nine months have passed away since my friend's wife left her house to stay with her parents. All efforts and meetings to reconcile resulted in no result. My friend also caught his wife recording the conversations on mobile during the meetings.
In the latest meetings, the behaviour of my friend's wife and her parents was very aggresive and rude and they ended the meeting by using bad language and open threating to spoil my friend and his parents life alongwith my friend's unmarried sister life. Wife also threatened that she will not give divorce easily.
My friend came to me and asked for my advice. He did not want to live with his blackmailer wife any more and is ready to face the musci. But simultaneously, he also want to safeguard his parents and family from evil deeds of his wife and her parents as they gave a open threating. The questions to be decided are :-
1) How my friend's family could be saved from the false case of 498A, if put by wife?
2) Should my friend apply for restituation of conjugal rights or apply for ex-parte divorce on the ground of cruelty? Whether he should take action first?
3) Is it still worthwhile to continue the reconciliation process?
4) What other suggestions / remedial measures I can suggest to my friend.
