Dear All,
My brother-in-law was going through a bad marriage and finally decided to go for a divorce. As per the procedure, he took legal help and officially filled the divorce last year. But, within few days, his wife filed a false 498a case against him. Unfortunately, she named several other family members also in the complaint. Thus, apart from my brother-in-law, other innocent people such as me, my wife, my father, my brother-in-law's mother, uncle, aunt, every body has been accused in this 498a.
I couldn't even imagine how could her family go about filing the case against everybody else just to prove their point. Fortunately, my brother-in-law was able to get anticipatory bail for all of us. Thus, we were saved from getting arrested.
I'm working abroad and thus out of India along with my family (with my wife & son). It's a mental torture for all of us, since we are highly worried about the ongoing hearing and how it would affect my employment abroad. The hearing started last week. Since we are staying abroad, my brother-in-law submitted our passport copies along with the entry/exit dates to the court to get us exempted from the hearings. Without much happening, the first hearing gotten over and the second hearing has been scheduled after 2 months.
With no mistakes on our side, I'm not quite sure on whether I should sit quiet and let my brother-in-law deal with this issue at India. Now, he is requesting me to fill a form and get it signed by the Indian Embassy here, which can be used as an additional proof to get me and my wife exempted from attending the hearings in person. I know he is taking advice from his lawyer. But, I'm still worried about going through this mental torture everyday. Hence, may I request you to provide clarification on the following:
1. I have a respectable job and got a family to take care of. While I strongly believe that the truth will come out soon, I'm worried about going in person for the trials since it would greatly impact my work schedule here and my son's health and education. It's also a very costly affair to travel to India for every hearing. My brother-in-law is quite confident that getting this signed form from the Embassy is sufficient to get me and my wife exempted from the hearings/trials. Could you please confirm and let me know more on this form? I haven't received much information from my brother-in-law yet.
2. The charge sheet has been filed now. But, the lawyer has stated that as long as we provide this form/affidavit before the next hearing date, we don't have to come to India for any hearings/trials. Can you please confirm this? Basically, I wanted to know whether there is any legal mandate to go and collect the charge sheet in person. We are getting worried because, we are not getting to discuss our concerns with the lawyer directly and we are getting everything answered only through my brother-in-law.
3. We are also applying for Quash for all wrongly accused family members. Considering that this is a framed case, and obviously 498a has been filed after the divorce was filed, is it possible to let me know how sure we can be of winning the Quash petition?
Thank you very much for your inputs and suggestions!!
