How to proceed with Divorce

Date of Marriage: Dec 2023, Place of Marriage: Bihar Date of Separation Dec 2024, Last place of co-habitation: Delhi Current place of husband: Delhi Current place of wife: Bihar Current Situation Husband wants divorce due to mental cruelty. Husband’s point of view: His life and career will be destroyed if he continues marriage, also he will get away with his family as the family also does not want to keep the girl due to her behaviour, nature and negativity that she brings and ultimately he will have to live separately with his wife, where tantrums from wife will increase further. This will make his life a living hell. Wife called her parents in Dec 2024 after an intense argument over some tribal household matter and left home saying, she will see who stops her this time from going home. Husband did not object seeing the willingness and eagerness of wife to head back home. She had her B.Ed. 2nd year exams in June which are over now and is asking husband to pick her from Bihar and get her back in her matrimonial home. Wife wants to stay as in her opinion she is the victim of mental cruelty from her mother-in-law but loves husband. But husband knows this is not true. Wife sees him as a prize to be won after wining the competition from her mother-in-law. And while temporarily to save marriage, she might agree to stay together but in the long run she will conspire against the family and would demand staying separately. Also the wife has two unmarried sisters, whose marriage might be affected in case she is divorced. Hence she will in all cases accept to stay with her husband temporarily till she is bound by these responsibilities. There is no guarantee, how she will behave after that. Also if they produce a baby, things will get even better for the wife, but the husband will be further in trouble. The only way husband can save himself in this situation is by getting divorce and is ready for it. Till now husband has given an idea of his intentions during some conversations in Feb 2025. After that he has been thinking carefully about what should be done before arriving at his decision. But husband is clear in his mind and has informed her that he needs time to think of what is to be done further. Wife has clearly said she will wait for him till Jul 10th, 2025. If he does not pick her from Bihar, then she will come to Delhi. Husband and his parents don’t want her to enter home as she is dramatic and might create scenes and start her conspiracies and may file DV. Husband’s father mostly stays in Bhopal and is still there. Also husband’s father has informed the wife’s family that his son is out due to official work, so they can plan of going to Bihar only after he comes back. Q1) Should the husband clearly tell his wife that he is not willing to continue marriage on telephone and try and convince her and her family to agree for mutual divorce? The wife has already on many occasions said that she will not give divorce, but still is it worth trying at-least once to convince her parents for the same to avoid all the trouble of litigation and false FIRs? There are 3 outcomes to this situation 1) The wife and family agree (very low chances) 2) They don’t agree (very low chances) 3) They show their apprehension and say they will think about it and start looking for a lawyer and follow lawyers instructions which might include complaining to protection officer or complaining in the police for DV. Q2) What happens if wife files a complaint of DV to the Protection Officer asking for protection orders, residence orders, monetary relief, access to shelter and medical facilities etc. Will the protection officer grant her all these reliefs without consulting the husband and she can re-enter home? Q3) If she gets these orders, can the husband do anything about the same? Q4) Alternately the wife can also file a complaint in the police for DV. What will the police do? Will they first ask the husband to appear and mediate? Or they will register an FIR against the husband? Q5) Can the husband and his family get Anticipatory bail before an FIR is registered against them? From where will they get the anticipatory bail? Delhi or Bihar? How much does it cost to get anticipatory bail? Q6) Should the husband first talk to a lawyer and get ready with all his documents and then talk to the wife and her family? So that if they take the 2nd or 3rd option, he can file a divorce before she files any complaints? Also if this is the correct way forward, should the husband also file for DV from his mother’s and sister’s side on wife? Should he also file for damages? Will filing for DV and damages from mother’s and sister’s side do any benefit in the overall case like lowering the intermediate maintenance claims from wife, or forcing them to come to Delhi and create problems for them in order to bring them on the table for mutual divorce asap? Q7) Should husband first file divorce and then talk to her and see their reaction? Q8) Should husband not talk to her directly, instead send her a legal notice telling her about his intentions and requesting them to agree for a mutual divorce ? They will either discuss or might file a DV case, but we will be able to show that we tried to get them to talk and agree for mutual divorce and that is the reason they have filed a DV which is false? Will the legal notice route be beneficial? Q9) Should husband to for a pre-litigation mediation in the Delhi High Court first in order to try and save time and efforts? Is the mediation just for convincing both the parties to stay together or is it to agree on the terms of divorce? Husband is clear on getting divorce and is not looking for any option of staying together. Q10) To reduce the overall alimony amount in the end, which path is better? Doing nothing and waiting for wife to file a DV case first or I can go ahead and file a divorce petition first and the final alimony has nothing to do with who filed for a divorce first. Q11) If a DV complaint is filed with police in Bihar, and I have my family lawyers in Bihar, will I have to travel there or my family lawyers can take care of the matter?