Many people enter the institution of marriage for multiple reasons like seeking companionship, parental pressure, social acceptance, getting settled, etc. But what people don’t realise is that entering into marriage is not as difficult as maintaining the marriage. There are always normal wear and tear in marriage due to compatibility issues. Sometimes, the value systems of the husband and wife are different. Other times, there is too much interference in the marriage from outside factors such as parents, career expectations, desire for financial freedom by the wife, and many more. Therefore, as a result of this wear and tear, coupled with the non-compromising nature of both the husband and wife, the couple gets separated to take some time alone. All of this is completely normal and natural. The problem starts when communication stops between the couple and there is uncertainty about the future of the marriage. This is when husbands consider filing for divorce in court with the help of a lawyer.
However, husbands do not realise that in India, the laws are in favour of their wives, so much so, that it affects not only them but also their relatives. Here are the top 5 consequences that husbands normally face when they initiate divorce proceedings from their side:
IPC 498A: Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code is one of the most misused laws in our country. This offence is criminal in nature. Almost immediately when the wife receives the summons from the court for the divorce initiated by the husband, they approach the nearest police station (commonly known as Crime Against Women cell or CAW cell or Mahila Thana) and lodge a false complaint against her husband and his relatives. The police then convert this complaint into FIR and formally starts the investigation. Most husbands are not mentally prepared for this kind of repercussions where they have to face police and investigation. Given the seriousness of this crime and the intensity of false allegations by wives, a lot of men face suicidal thoughts and some even sadly end their lives.
Domestic Violence Case: This act is called the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 (commonly known as Domestic Violence or DV). This case is quasi-civil and quasi-criminal in nature. These cases are directly filed in court and the aggrieved wife can claim either monetary compensation or monthly maintenance or both from the husband in return for the damages caused to her. The courts are generally liberal in granting compensation or maintenance to wives. The worst part is that, whenever the court decides any maintenance in favour of the wife, the husband has to pay that amount from the date of application of the case by the wife, leading to the building of huge arrears which is then enjoyed by the wife.
HMA 24 case: Marriages registered in the Hindu religion are governed by Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. Section 24 under this act provides relief to women in the form of monthly maintenance. This application is also directly put in court. Usually, the wife counters the divorce petition of the husband by putting an application of HMA 24 in response. Hence, this results in the husband giving monthly maintenance to the wife till the time divorce is decided by the court. For marriages outside the Hindu religion, similar remedies are available to wives under the Special Marriage Act, 1954.
CrPC 125 case: Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC) exclusively deals with granting monthly maintenance to the wife from the husband. Such applications are also directly put in court. In this case, the wife can claim monthly maintenance even when the divorce proceeding by the husband is pending or has been already granted.
Parental Alienation Trauma: This is one of the worst forms of trauma a husband can face. Generally, when a wife leaves her matrimonial home, she takes the child along with her and the father is deprived of the love and care of his own child. Such separations often break the husband and his family members emotionally. Due to the father’s emotional attachment towards his children, his wife uses the children as a bargaining chip and/or harassment tool. There are multiple ways for a husband to get child access or custody, but the battle in court is very long and tiresome.
As you can see, there are multiple reliefs available to the wife in the court of law. She can claim maintenance from multiple cases and her husband is required to attend all the court dates. Moreover, the maintenance awarded to the wife is later utilised by the wife to put additional cases on her husband. Hence, for a husband, filing a divorce in India becomes a continuous cycle of litigation in different courts. The husband is stuck for a number of years and is harassed emotionally, physically and financially. The list of cases a wife can file against her husband as mentioned above are not exhaustive. There are other cases that the wife can initiate. However, there are very few cases husbands can file against a wife apart from divorce.
Out of all cases, maintenance cases are most damaging as the husband has to pay monthly maintenance till the time cases are pending in court. Even after the cases are decided, the husband has to pay maintenance till the wife remarries to another husband or till her natural death.
This is the main reason we at Nyay Prayaas Foundation do not advocate for husbands to initiate divorce cases from their side.
If you wish to learn more about the laws of different IPC sections or roles and powers of police, you may get in touch with us via our all-India helpline at +91 9811550662.
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NYAY PRAYAAS – EK PRAYAAS BADLAV KI AUR
Absolutely True..
Men are ATM machine
Indian Men and women both in society have some mindset , that cause metromonial dispute. In rural india ppl are very simple , need much education about family biased law. In my openion it would be better to file criminal case comparatively divorce or rcr suits
Good work really appreciated, thanks nyaprayaas team for such a nice guidance.
Brilliantly written Priyank! Hope this helps a lot of men out there. And they don’t do a mistake of filing a divorce first
This article is an eye opener for men who think abt filing a divorce is d best way out of a bad marriage.
Very useful article for the people who are facing false matrimonial cases. It is very painful to experience or see turning a pure custom of marriage into extortion.
When a marriage goes sour (they almost always do these days) in India, most men, having been educated by movies and TV shows mostly, go for the most sensible sounding option of divorce. We have been trained to believe that divorce is as easy as applying for it in a family court and giving it six months and during this time, things will be all cute and sweet and eventually, court will grant us the decree. Little do most men know that only getting married is in their hands. Everything else from there on is controlled by the wives as per the law.
Bahut hi achha kaam kar raha hain NPF.
Can I say one thing after visiting here?? I honestly feel it’s so cruel for men to face all this just because the society is convinced that men can only be evil. One whole gender is not even given the chance to justify or counter without getting his dignity taken away in seconds due to a false case and they take you to the police stations like dogs. I have a brother and i would never let a woman do something like that to him.