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Need advise on divorce 498a cases
Question
Please see the chronology of my cases: (I live in HYD, wife stays in KOL)
1. Got married in 2016, wife left matrimony house in 2018 and filed for divorce from her hometown in Kolkata in 2018
2. In 2021,I filed a divorce from my working place in Hyderabad. Notice was sent to her last known address since she had chnaged address many times to hide.
3. In 2022, I got exparte order of divorce on grounds of desertion & cruelty from Hyderabad court.
4. In 2023, wife filed a complaint FIR from KOL under sections: 323/325/379/498A/506/406/34 of IPC &3 /4 D.P with some false, cooked-up story to demand huge money.
5. I refused to pay money, I immediately went to Kolkata, got compliance of 41 crpc notice from police and also got bail from court.
Now my questions:
A. Wife is not aware of ex-parte divorce from Hyderabad court, and her original divorce in Kolkata is upcoming for hearing.
Should I submit to the KOL court that I already have a exparte decree from HYD court ?
What will happen to the pending divorce in KOL court then ?
Will it be any problem for me ?
B. I did not yet tell the police that I already have a divorce decree from HYD. If I tell them, can I get her false FIR dimissed because
if we already technically divorced since “2022”, then her 498a FIR filed in “2023” is not maintainable, right?
C. Since, I got divorce based on “cruelty + desertion” grounds , can it be used to deny her maintenance under 125 CRPC in future ?
Note, *her previous 125 case was dismissed by KOL court due to default by her (non execution, absence from court)
Answer ( 1 )
1. Yes it is very much required to inform the Kolkata Court regarding the divorce already granted to you. However if you were already aware and made appearance in the court at Kolkata then it may create some problem to you as the decree is ex-parte and when the wife was already contesting a claim here, you had the option to serve her through her counsel appearing for her in kolkata. furthermore, you were bound to inform the court at HYD regarding the pendency of divorce case filed by wife at Kolkata if the appearance of you in the kolkata court is prior in time then filling of divorce case in Hyd.
2. you should inform the police regarding the divorce. You can state that since the divorce was granted therefore the present FIR is a counterblast of the same. chances of the police to not submit challan then becomes higher in your case.
3. It is the discretion of the maintenance court whether to grant her maintenance or not. Since the earlier petition has been dismissed for want of prosecution, there is no bar of entertaining new petition if the same is on different grounds and if the wife is not able to sustain herself. The judgments of the Hon’ble Supreme Court as regards payment of maintenance when divorce has already been granted on ground of desertion are conflicting so it is the discretion of the court considering your entire factual situation as to grant/ non-grant of maintenance. Since the Team here is not privy to the entire intricacies of the case, therefore the legal advice has been given on the above mentioned scenario only.