Advocate Tarak Shrikant Patil

Questions Answered by Advocate Tarak Shrikant Patil

Q: Husband is seeking divorce and taking custody of child please advise

we are married for 10 years and child is 5 and half years old. i have been through a lot of torture and emotional trauma since marriage of 10 years. recently, my husband was out of town and i invited one of my male frends. he came home late coz of his work. i needed to booze coz of my anxieties and he bought booze bottle and we ordered food at 2 at night. and he left the next morning.. all this is captured by building society and now my husband is trying to prove me characterless on the pretext.. that i boozed and some men coming home late at night and leaving mrng. he wants custody of my child and i want custody of my child..he is giving me all types of bribe to go mutual by giving me flat, car etc.. but since the time of 10 yers of marriage.. he was never a good husband nor a good father. n since last two years become too much religious too. not paying any attention to household. even if gets custody he will put my child in some religious school to make him a monk.. plz guide.

Advocate Tarak Shrikant Patil answered
If you are willing to get divorced then you can file a petition for divorce in the court, in that itself you can claim the custody of your child. As the child is only 5 years old, most probably the custody will be with you only. Also what has been captured by the building or society does not determine that you are characterless. There has to be a strong evidence for that.

Q: Wife being tortured by husband and in-laws for dowry, please advise

Dear sir! I urgently seek your advice with regard to my sister's marital life.It's been almost 16 years hence she had been married but right from the very first day till now she had been facing extreme mental as well as physical abuse.Under pressure we tried to fulfill every demands of my her inlaws.But even after marriage her husband and in laws kept asking for dowry and tortured her a lot.She went to file complaint in a nearby police station but the matter was been suppressed with involvement of Thana incharged(may be he was bribed).Even after all their attempts when my sister didn't bring further dowry for her in laws ,they adopted another strategy.They asked my sister's husband to keep mentally and physically torturing my sister without actually asking for dowry ,so as to provoke her to commit suicide.My sister has two children ,both aging above 8 years. Expecting your sincere guidance in this regard...

Advocate Tarak Shrikant Patil answered
If police are not taking any action apply to the Commissioner office [ladies cell]. Probably they will take action in this regard. Otherwise you can also file a private complaint of 498[a] of Indian Penal Code in the court if the police authorities are reluctant to take action. Other action which you can take is filing of the application under The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 in the court. That way the law will be set in motion. If your sister decides to stay separately from the husband and in-laws then she will be able to claim maintenance from the husband too under various laws.