Mumbai: Abused for years, advocate awaits action against her in-laws

When the system does not render justice anymore where should victims gordquo asks the advocate daughter of a retired Mumbaibased judge who was allegedly subjected to illtreatment and harassment by her advocate husband and inlaws for giving birth to a daughter and not a sonThe advocate lodged her complaint on March 8 2021 at the Dadar police station but the cops filed an FIR five months later and failed miserably in the investigation according to the complainant The case was later transferred to the Vinoba Bhave Nagar police station in Kurla but she was not satisfied with the progress She finally had to knock on the doors of the Metropolitan Magistrate court in Kurla seeking intervention and got directions in her favour In her complaint filed before the court on January 21 2022 she mentioned that the Dadar police filed an FIR five months after she lodged her complaintShe alleged that they did not register the offence against her husband and inlaws for forcing her to do the preimplantation genetic diagnosis PGD treatment in Thailand for a son They allegedly made her undergo eight failed gender selective IVF at Bangkok Thailand as per her complaint She had to take more than 1500 hormonal and steroid injections in Mumbai before flying to BangkokAdvocate Dinesh Tiwari who is representing the complainantThe Dadar cops also failed to mention in the FIR about the Rs 70 lakh that the husband and inlaws allegedly took from her savings accounts and fixed deposits FD by obtaining her signatures on blank cheques The case was transferred to the Vinoba Bhave Nagar police when she had brought up these lapses to the notice of highranking police officers The accused had managed to obtain anticipatory bail from Sessions courtAlso Read Maharashtra Ambiguity in housing society poll rules allowing takeover by administrators say expertsIn her plea the complainant made numerous requests to the courtmdashtransfer of the case from Vinoba Bhave Nagar police station to some other police station direction to the investigating officer IO to add the relevant sections of PreConception and PreNatal Diagnostic Techniques Act PCPNDT 1994 direction to the IO to investigate the breaking of the FD recovery of salary and to include everyone involved in the crime and a request for the court to monitor the investigation She also sought a direction to a senior officer to conduct an inquiry against the present IOCourt orderMetropolitan Magistrate S K Khan took cognisance of the complaint against the IO ldquoAfter the conclusion of investigation the police shall transmit the collected material to the appropriate authority instead of filing a charge sheet so that the law is followed and not breached In that view the request by the complainant to direct the investigating officer to add the relevant sections of PCPNDT Act and to investigate the same is not without meritrdquoldquoThe senior inspector of Vinoba Bhave Nagar police station is directed to look into her complaint and sincerely consider transferring the investigation to some other senior officer The investigating officer shall also investigate the crimeoffences punishable under various sections of PCPNDT Act and identify the manner in which the money has been withdrawn from her account and identify the purpose as to how FDs have been broken by the accused against the interest of the complainantrdquo the order statedThe court kept the case pending so that appropriate orders as and when necessary shall be passed The court also observed ldquoThe police must treat all members of the public in a fair and impartial mannerrdquo A copy of the courtrsquos direction was submitted to Vinoba Bhave Nagar police on January 7 2023What they sayldquoAfter the victim is throttled by the society and her life is shattered she gathers courage with great difficulty to seek justice against the wrongdoers But she is made to run from pillar to post And at every step she is reminded of her wounds again and again and thus she relives her tragedy every dayrdquo said the complainantldquoThis case shows how bad our system has become It does not deliver justice to most of the victims In most cases the investigating agency fails miserably to investigate scientifically The benefit of such investigation accrues to the accused mostly If justice cannot even be ensured to the daughter of a retired judge then it becomes clear that common citizens donrsquot stand a chance Drastic remedial measures are neededrdquo said Advocate Dinesh Tiwari who is representing the complainantThe offence under 498A of IPC is clear in this case he said adding ldquoIt is due to the clout of the accused that police are failing to take action It is the complainant who goes to the court repeatedly for redressal In fact in the recent order the magistrate has clearly accepted the contention of botched up investigation but police are still not living up to expectationsrdquo