Many people have asked about details of my case, so I am sharing it now.
1. Background:
I got married in Nov 2007( our native place is same).My wife, along with my 9 month old daughter went to her parent's home in Nov 2010 for her brother's wedding and did not come back. I made several attempts to bring her back but all that she wanted from me was that I should not live with my parents. Her parents asked me to choose between my parents and her. I was firm that I would not leave my parents in any condition. I approached elder members of my community to settle the matter and they tried to settle it also but could not succeed. She filed DV case in Nov 2011 against me and my parents. She made very serious allegations like attempt of murder, abortion, physical and mental violence etc. She asked for 10 lakh compensation and 35 k per month as maintenance also with separate house and protection order
2. Strategy:
I resigned from my job and came to my hometown where the case was filed (though this step is not advisable, It helped me a lot to concentrate on the case and gather evidence in initial stages) I engaged a good lawyer and In my reply I mentioned that I am ready to cohabit with her (this was an honest reply and I was not saying this just to save myself. Every case has different background so it’s up to the respondent what he feels about living together again). I also mentioned about the efforts taken by me and elder members of my community to settle the matter. I did not make a single allegation against her in my reply and told the court that we were living happily and we don't have any dispute between us. In the reply, I explained the entire situation and also mentioned about all the events that happened before filing of the case. Wife's case lacked details about domestic violence incidents such as date and time of incidents and who did what. Those were mere allegations. Also I requested for counseling before proceeding further but wife was not ready for it. My lawyer made the final argument on section 3 of the act and told the court that the wife could not prove her case at all as her allegations are vague and no DV is committed by me. Also there were no specific allegations against my parents. My sister’s name was just mentioned in the case without any allegation. My lawyer mainly relied n the proofs submitted by me, and the cross examination of my wife. I had taken certified copy of my wife’s cross examination and studied it carefully. It helped me a lot in my own cross examination
Points which formed the base for dismissal of the case:
The best thing in my case was that I had solid proofs against her allegations as follow.
a. She alleged that she was never allowed to go out of house after marriage. In fact she did few educational courses when she was with me. I submitted the certificates of the same. She agreed to that in her cross examination :)
b. She alleged that she was not given medical treatment at all during her pregnancy and she was forced to do abortion. I submitted medical documents of her pregnancy which showed that she was given proper medical treatment during pregnancy .In her cross examination She agreed that she was provided medical treatment :)
c. She had gone to her parent's home for the delivery in the 7th month of pregnancy as per the custom. She alleged that I did not come to see the baby in the hospital and she did not come back to my home after pregnancy and she is living there since her delivery. I submitted medical documents of my child's vaccination and other treatment that was done when after wife came back to my house. My wife admitted in her cross examination that she had come back to my house and we used to take our daughter regularly to the doctor.
Apart from this, the elder members from my community who tried to settle the matter were witness from my side as part of my evidence..