Like every girl, 21-year-old Shweta Chauhan (name changed)  envisioned a ‘happy ever after’ when she got married to Brijesh Chauhan, her NRG groom on October 12, 2010. But, just after four months of matrimony, her dreams and came crashing down when her husband sent her back from Australia just 27 days after she joined him, labelling her a mentally ill person.

Shweta and Brijesh got married in October 2010 after interacting through internet

Shweta alleges that Brijesh married her because his Australian visa was about to expire. “If a person is married, the authorities there are sure that they’ll not misuse the visa and thus the visa gets renewed without hassels. Also there is a point system, where the person gets extra points in case he is married. This helps in getting a permanent residency visa. That’s the reason he got married to me,” she said.



Shweta is a resident of Nandanvan Flats in Nirnaynagar and belongs to a middle-class family. Her father works as a clerk in a private firm. Their joy knew no bounds when they received a marriage offer from the NRG boy’s parents. Brijesh works in Australia.



On March 1, 2010, Brijesh’s parents met Shweta and her parents. The groom and the bride were introduced online as Brijesh was in Australia. They spoke to each other on phone for fortnight before agreeing to the marriage. They got married in the court on October 12.



After a brief stay in India Brijesh flew back to Australia in December promising to take his wife later. Meanwhile, Shweta applied for an Australian students visa and got admission in a college there to pursue an Advance diploma in business management.

Visa approved



Shweta said, “Soon after Brijesh left, my mother-in-law, Bharti Chauhan started finding faults with me. She would crib about how little dowry I had brought. She would taunt me about the amount they had spent to get me an Australian visa. When my husband called from Australia, she would complain about me.”



But Shweta didn’t have to tolerate this for long. Her visa was approved and she flew to Sydney on January 13, unaware that she was stepping from one hell to another.



“Once I reached Australia, the first week was blissful. He took care of me and we visited several places together. But, soon I saw  change in his behaviour towards me. He won’t allow me to attend the college and kept me locked in the house,”  a tearful Shweta said.



She and her husband shared a flat with few other people in Sydney. According to Shweta, Brijesh was in a relationship with Jharna Patel, one of the flatmates.

labelled thief



“Brijesh would accuse me of stealing Jharna’s jewellery. But the truth was they would place the jewellery on my bed and then call me a thief. Brijesh said that I was mentally unstable. He would treat me badly and won’t speak to me for days,” she said.



A depressed Shweta threatened to call the police if Brijesh continued to harass her. With the possibility of the situation getting out of hand looming above his head, Brijesh softened his approach. He tried to convince Shweta that she needed professional help.



“I kept on telling him that I was absolutely fine. I had no mental problem, but he refused to believe me. He sent to India to get some medical tests done. Once I reached India, he stopped calling me. When I called him, he asked me to send him the reports of my medical tests,” Shweta said.



She got an MRI, IQ, and several other tests done and sent the reports to her husband. But there was no response. Brijesh became incommunicado. Shweta also tried going back to Australia but could not as her students visa had been cancelled because of zero attendance.

complaint filed



“I tried to go back to my in-laws but they refused to let me stay. they accused my parents of cheating them and ruining their son’s life”



Finally Shweta filed a complaint in the Naranpura police station against her husband and in-laws, accusing them of cheating, mental, physical and dowry  harassment. The cops arrested her father-in-law Kirit Chauhan, mother-in-law, brother-in-law Suhas Chauhan and his wife Suman Chauhan. They were later released on bail.