Cyber love sours, girl seeks alimony of Rs2.5L per month

A case of domestic violence involving a couple from high-profile families has landed in a local court with the girl demanding a monthly alimony of Rs2.50 lakh from her husband. The girl, who is a medical student, has filed a case of harassment and torture against her Mumbai-based builder husband.

Interestingly, the couple came to know each other through a social networking site, fell in love, and got married against the wishes of their respective families. But their marriage did not last more than three months.

When the girl filed a complaint against the Mumbai-based boy under Domestic Violence Act and sought alimony, the court ordered that the girl be given Rs20,000 each month as maintenance. But the girl is not satisfied with amount granted to her as monthly maintenance and has filed an appeal in the appellate court seeking a hike in the alimony amount.

Meanwhile, the boy has also filed an appeal seeking a reduction in the amount already granted to the girl as maintenance money.
"The girl has filed a case under Domestic Violence Act as she was ignored by her husband during their short marital life. She was subjected to harassment by the boy's family. She also alleged that her husband had an illicit affair with one of his close relatives," said Dilip Ahuja, the girl’s counsel.

Ahuja further said that the girl was thrown out by her in-laws and now has to maintain herself and needs money to complete her medical studies. "Hence, we have sought more money as maintenance allowance and have filed an appeal against the magistrate court's order," the lawyer said.

According to the case details, Tanya (name changed), the daughter of a female BJP leader of central Gujarat, had gone to Russia to study medicine. She completed her graduate studies there and was pursuing a postgraduate medical course.

In the meantime, she got to know Mumbai-based Rahul (name changed) who belongs to the same community as her, and they began chatting online. They soon fell in love and decided to get married.

Tanya was deeply in love with Rahul, which is why left her studies and came to India to marry her dream boy. But her dreams were shattered when she went to her in-laws' place in Navi Mumbai. Her husband and his family ignored her completely while she was there. Soon, she realised that her in-laws did not like her and that Rahul had married her against the wishes of his family.

She also came to know that her husband had a 'warm relationship' with a woman who happened to be his close relative. When Tanya was thrown out of her in-laws' house, she came back to her maternal home in Nadiad. She then filed a case of domestic violence against her husband and her in-laws.

In her petition seeking maintenance, Tanya said that her husband earns Rs3 lakh per month. She has further said that she needs Rs50,000 to pay rent in Mumbai and Rs1 lakh per month for maintenance. She further stated that as she had left her medical studies to get married, she should be paid Rs1.50 lakh each month so that she could resume her studies for an MD degree.

She has demanded another Rs25 lakh as she had suffered a loss of Rs15 lakh (paid as course fee to the Russian college) and Rs3.50 lakh spent to meet marriage expenses. She has argued that if she completes here postgraduate course in medicine, she would get an annual package of Rs6 to 7 lakh as doctor at any hospital.

Hence, the boy's family should pay her Rs25 lakh, she has demanded.