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UMMEED
'Ummeed' celebrates the courage, determination and journey of women who have stood up against violence and emerged stronger. Through this sharing, we hope to inspire others to take the first step.
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A BELIEVER
Vidhi, believed in love, when she decided to get married to someone outside her faith. She loved and believed her fiancé so much that, she even renounced her faith and converted to his faith, in order to get married.
All her trust was shattered within a few months of her marriage. Vidhi’s husband turned out to be a compulsive alcoholic and womanizer. Vidhi was further shocked when he started abusing, beating and hitting her on a daily basis. His threats extended to intimidating to kill her with a knife. This behaviour continued unabashedly, even after the birth of two sons.
The only silver lining in Vidhi’s life were her sons, who stood by her through all the violence and protected her from their father. Yet, they could never prevent their father from unleashing his fury on Vidhi. Apart from physically and verbally abusing her, Vidhi’s husband never gave her money to run the household or pay for the sons’ education even though he had a Government job and earned well. She was always compelled to ask for help from her family, relatives and friends. Despite this, Vidhi continued to stay with her husband and even looked after his mother, as she believed that her circumstances might change one day.
On several occasions, Vidhi was forced to approach the Police for assistance and register a Complaint. However, even this did not deter her husband. Finally, after 30 years of marriage and after both her sons were adults, Vidhi decided to seek assistance and approached Majlis. At that time, Vidhi was hapless, at her wits end and on the verge of a break down. Looking at her plight, an Application under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act seeking the reliefs of protection, residence, maintenance and compensation was immediately filed.
Again, Vidhi faced severe harassment at the hands of her husband when he received summons from the Court. He started tormenting her for filing the case. He would run aggressively towards her with a knife or would just open the gas nozzle and walk away, without informing her. Vidhi was not sure as to whether these were mere threatening tactics by her husband or he really intended to kill her.
Vinita confided to our legal team that she was petrified to live with her husband. She wished that he would just leave the matrimonial home. Sensing the urgency of her case, our legal team took efforts to ensure that her husband’s dilatory tactics were not entertained by the Court.
Majlis’ legal team was able to secure timely interim orders for Vidhi, which included monthly maintenance and an order prohibiting her husband from committing any acts of domestic violence on her. The success in Court boosted Vidhi’s confidence. On the other hand, her husband could not fathom her new found confidence. Moreover, he was unable to deal with the interim orders in Vidhi’s favour. Suddenly, he left the matrimonial home and started residing separately. Now, Vidhi is relieved and content. She receives her monthly maintenance and lives peacefully with her sons. She is no longer worried about her safety. Vidhi believes that she can live in dignity and is looking forward to take her case to its logical conclusion.
Names have been changed to protect privacy.
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Enclosed is the story in Hindi and Marathi
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Our mailing address is:
Majlis Legal Centre, 4 A/2, Golden Valley,
Kalina Kurla road, Santacruz East,
Mumbai 400 098.
Contact Nos : 022-26661252 / 26662394 / 26668539
Copyright © 2020 Majlis Legal Centre, All Rights Reserved.
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