Presenting background by " Haneesha - software engineer"
"1. I want to file DV case on my husband in India.
2. I suffered alot because of husband and in laws and escaped from His hands and came to India.
3. Was married and stayed in US for 1 year 2 months.
4. But he stays in US working , he is on temporary working visa (H1B)..
5. How to get him back to India.Is there any legal procedure to get him back to India ??? How long it takes to get him back??? who can help him to get him back ?"
Questions ( that anyone legal or otherwise may wish to get enlightened on before giving you free flowing legal advice or worldly wisdom )
1. What is the ultimate intent ? Do you want to divorce your USA based NRI husband OR wish to give love and peace a chance before rushing to the court ( for maintainance or other dues )? ( What are you hiding ? )
2. You were in USA with your husband for 14 months. What suffering were you subjected to while you were co-habiting. Did he physically harm you ? Did he financially abuse you or control you ? Did he emotionally abuse you. ( In USA, domestic abuse is assesses in three broad categories- physical, emotional and financial and law has defined what each of these mean. There is no vagueness)
3. Were your inlaws living with you in USA ?
4. If you were abused in USA, did you file a police complaint in the local police station ?
5. If for some reason, you did not file a police complaint, then did you approach the court in USA for "I want to file DV case on my husband". In USA, it takes approximately 15 minutes and $0.00 to file DV and get protective orders. The DV protective order is civil but any violation of the DV protective order is criminal. Why didnt you file a "DV case" against your husband in USA ?
6. For a moment, lets assume that you are the good wife and did not want to approach the police or the courts, question arises, did you call the local or national domestic violence help line for assistance ? If not, then why ?
7. What was your work status or disposition while you were in USA ? Were you studying ? Were you stay at home homemaker ? If he is on H1B, then you are either on H4 visa status or H1B visa status. Most likely, you are on H4.
8. ( and sister, some pearls of wisdom for you. Use it or abuse it and destroy someones life with this nugget.) If you file DV on him in USA, you are eligible for FREE GREEN CARD ( free food, free accomodation and also FREE MONEY. Free money comes from the VOC program maintained by the DA of each county. ) !!!. I can help file your papers for free - no legal advice though on immigration or any other US legal advice).
9. A sword has two sides and no Indian lawyer will tell you this - You may file a DV/498a or whatever against him in India but he can do the same in USA. USA DV laws are gender neutral. He can file criminal protective orders against you and you will never be able to enter the USA. You will be arrested at the port of entry. He can put you on the no-fly list, a list maintained by United States Federal government. In short, you have all the powers in this world to destory your own family as well as his. Your kids and family wont have toys to play with but some lawyer in India would have bought a new pair of shoes, changed his TV, his car or perhaps his house, depending on how deep your pockets are.
Before you develop your strategy, keep in mind:-
1. Beware of Indian lawyers who can cite newspaper articles and sections of Indian law but cannot put forth or defend their own argument. ( No offence to any lawyer on LCI please.).
2. Be aware of lawyers, who are able to provide a silver bullet to your expressed requirement without asking for details of the case. Its plain simple for a common man to see that yours is not a case of NRI husband deserting you . where the passport impoundment provisions can be applied - you left him on your own accord. What the punjabi taxi drivers are doing, which led to the impoundment of passport of those individuals is that they are visiting India, marrying and after 2-3 months of fun and frolic, returning back to USA,Canada to drive their taxi. You are not in India and your husband did not, repeat not abandon you, you deserted him.
3. As of this writing, there are several ( millions ) of Americans who are un-employed and under employed. In this grim economic situation, your husband has managed to get a job and is maintaining a family. He may not be the romeo that you dreamt of after watching Indian movies but, as someone has already recommended, take a deep breath and give peaceful discussion a chance. I strongly recommend you retain an Indian lawyer who is willing to take baby steps and by peaceful corrospondence arrive at a peaceful separation. Indian lawyers are not public defenders and paid by government, so they have a vested interest in the life of the case. Which Doctor prays that there should be no sickness in this world ? . Yes, there are Doctors who work for free on a case by case basis - rare. Find that Doctor.