Sir/Madam- I am 33 year old male. I got married in January 2008. We got separated after 6 months of marriage due to incompatibility. We went through marriage counselling to fix problems, but it never worked. I filed for divorce in September 2009 under the grounds of cruelty, because the girl did not want to sign mutual consent. The case at the family court finally concluded in October 2012, which went to the girl's favour. I appealed at the high court by February 2013.
The appeal at high court never progressed, still waiting for a response. At the same time, the girl and her family started harassing me and my family. They filed a case under section 7 (i) (c) against me and family, saying I took 2 kilos of gold and some money as dowry. They also attached my ancestral home with this petition.
Since you know my marriage ended in 2008 (we have no kids with this marriage), i moved on with my life and i feel in love with a girl. I live abroad now. My wife's family got to know about my lover and now they filed a criminal case against me and my lover and our families under section 494 r/w 34, saying that I married another girl while i am legally still married. Though its false that i got married again, now my life has gone for a complete toss. My lover and her parents are dragged into this, my old mother, my siblings. Now all of them are frustrated on me, because cops even went to their house to arrest.
We have now taken anticipatory bail for all relatives living in India, but our lawyer is not giving ideas as of how to handle this case. I am also frustrated that the matrimonial appeal in high court has not progressed though its been 2 years since i filed.
Can you please give some legal advise how to get rid of this mess?
Asked 10 years ago in Family Law
Religion: Hindu
Thanks to all for your feedback. Here are some response to your questions.
1) I had asked my lawyer to file a quashing petition u/s 482, he took Rs. 20,000 for that expense almost 2 months back. He says it is a lengthy process, will happen, but do not rush. I do not know if it actually takes lot of time or just fooling me.
2) The ancestral property was given to me by my parents as a Gift deed when they did the property partition.
3) My lawyer opinion is filing early petition at high court would give us no benefit. He says matrimonial appeal will take its own time.
4) The petitioner (my wife) who filed bigamy petition against me has mentioned on the petition that there are witness of the ritual marriage that happened, they also made a certificate from a temple saying i got married there.
5) Though details of cruelty are mentioned on the petition, there are no proofs as such that i have to submit to the court. I have witnesses like my own family members, but they all are now dragged into various cases.
6) The dowry case was filed under 7(1)(c) of The Family Court Act.
We tried our best to do out of court settlement with them, but they asked for twenty five Lacs as compensation , which I do not have to give and I do not know why she deserves that.
I seriously have doubts about intentions of my lawyer. I do not know if he has taken money from my wife too.
Hope the above gives some more clarity. Please advise how can I make my case more stronger at high court to get divorce?
Asked 10 years ago