My in-laws have repeatedly harrassed me for dowry since i got married. my parents have had to give numerous things to my husband and mother-in-law over years. A couple of years ago, my mother-in-law was alloted a flat in a new colony being brought up by a defense society but she was asked to pay 3 lakh rupees to allot that flat to her. She harassed us again for dowry as she did not want to pay money for that flat out of her own pocket, my parents gave me 3 lakh rupees cash which was deposited in my bank account ( bank account was under my name only ). I used a bank draft to pay the defense society so that my mother-in-law could buy the flat in her name from defense society. Questions from me:
1. Since the flat was bought with my money ( stridhan ), can I claim ownership of the flat as my stridhan as it was purchased with my stridhan ( money paid from my bank account )?
2. My mother-in-law is claiming since the flat was alloted to her by defense, it is benami property. Since i have proof to show that the money paid for the flat was from my account, how does law differentiate between benami property and stridhan in a situation like this?
3. Would I recover 3 lakh rupees only in this case or would I get the ownership of the flat since that was purchased from my stridhan?
4. Any judgements by honorable courts to help with this would be appreciated.
