Chennai: Woman seeks police security to reside in her ex-husband's house
CHENNAI: The VII additional sessions court, Chennai, has directed police to provide protection to a woman who sought to reside in her estranged husband’s house. In the petition, the woman of Avadi, submitted she was married to a person of T. Nagar here.
After the wedding, her parents-in-law started abusing and torturing her. She was locked up in a godown which was infested with rats, scorpions, mosquitoes and other poisonous insects. On May 10, 2010, they asked her to bring more jewels and a motorcycle from her parents house.
When her father visited the matrimonial house the next day, they called a group of persons and conducted a ‘katta panchayat’ to demand more dowry. The woman said she was forced to leave the house leaving behind 25 sovereigns of gold jewellery and other articles following harassment in her in-law’s house.
They also refused to return the articles and jewellery. In the petition, she had prayed the XVII metropolitan magistrate, Saidapet, to direct the police to provide security to her at the matrimonial house. And, she filed the petition before the magistrate court under section 20 of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005.
In their reply, the husband and his parents submitted they were harassed by woman. The house belonged to the woman's mother-in-law and not to her husband. Hence, she cannot seek any claim in the house.
As per interim order of Principal Family Court, they were paying a monthly maintenance of Rs.4,000 to her. As the litigation was pending before Family Court, she cannot seek the relief.
The XVII metropolitan magistrate, Saidapet, here, in an order dated February 11, 2015, dismissed her petition. Aggrieved, she filed an appeal before the VII additional sessions court.
