Domestic Violence

5 years ago

Hello Sir,

My sister got married in July,2013 at our home town (Jalpaiguri, West Bengal), but shifted to Delhi with her husband in September,2013 as he was employed there in a private firm, though her husband's home town is in West Bengal too (a place known as Malda).
Six months after her marriage, she was being mentally and physically tortured by her husband and her in-laws (who frequently visited Delhi) for dowry and a motorcycle.
My sister kept on tolerating all these and was scared of telling us about it. She had a hope that everything will fall in place with due course of time.
But the torture kept on getting more violent and she was kept in house arrest for months.
One fine day in the month of December,2015 she was threatened by her husband of not entering their house or else he would kill her. That very night my sister slept in her land lady's house and the next morning she somehow managed to reach the local police station, and had called me too (as I stay in Delhi too). We filed a written complaint against her husband and the copy was received by the police station. The policemen in the police station initially tried to sort the matter at their end by calling her husband over but nothing worked out as he was a stubborn idiot. Hence the police asked us to visit the nearby CAW cell, which we did on the same day and submitted a detailed complaint about the entire scene since her marriage in 2013.
Three counselling dates were given and we were present in all the three days (the opponent had come over too), but none of the counseling worked and hence we were told by the case in charge to settle it outside by filing a case.
Since that day in December, 2015 my sister had moved back to my hometown (Jalpaiguri, West Bengal) and she is in a mental trauma.
We did not take any action against her husband or his famity till now as we were more concerned about my sister's well being.
However, after a span of almost 2 years her husband and his family had sent a letter at our hometown address, through a lawyer about seeking divorce. We received the letter. The lawyer whom they had sought help from, had called myou mother over the phone and discussed about it, to which my mother had said that if thet pay us 15 lakhs (5 lakh for marriage expenses + 10 lakhs for my sisters maintenance ), we will be more than happy to give divorce.
We never heard back from them anymore. But, on 23/08/2018 a letter was sent from New Delhi Saket Court at our hometown address which my mother couldn't receive it as she had a broken arm and no one was present at home.
We do not know what was that letter all about. We are extremely mentally disturbed with all thsee.
All I want to know is, can we file 498a from our home town against her husband and his family.
I would be highly thankful to you if you can advise accordingly.
Your kindness will be highly appreciated