Many NRI men ask how to fight cases filed by their wife back in India? Whether they will get arrested on arrival? Whether they will be able to get back to their job abroad or will get restrictions on their travel?
There are no readymade answers for any of the above. However, following is an inspiring story of a man Anindya Chatterjee who came back from US to fight false 498a and 406 cases, and was able to get the trial done within 6 months. The interview doesn’t mention him to be an NRI but for practical purposes it will be of use to all NRIs since they usually face same issues.
The whole interview above is worth reading. Specific excerpt below about how he fought the 498a and 406 cases:
In Jan 2012, she filed 498A. In March 2012, I immediately returned to India to cooperate with police investigation. Police issued LOC to harass me so that I cannot leave India. Even court put travel restrictions on me. Due to this I lost my job position in USA. Meantime, myself and father had to travel once every week to the police station where in the name of investigation we were simply told to sit and waste time. Entire investigation was a FARCE. Till Feb 2013, I repeatedly pleaded the High Court to allow me to resume my job abroad, but I was denied total 3 times. Eventually in Feb 2013, all my bail conditions were waived off and I was allowed to go abroad. I had to again take the pain of finding a position in US from scratch and eventually in May 2013 I was able to find a US job position and travelled back. In May 2014, I became determined to face the criminal trial and unmask the falsity of the entire case. I again returned back to India to initiate the trial process. The only silver lining in my case was that the trial court appreciated my effort to face trial, and accepted our plea for speedy trial. My trial lasted 6 months, where I had to travel back and forth between US and India 3 times. Eventually on 17.11.14 my parents and I were all acquitted from the charges of IPC 498A/406 honorably. Not only the prosecution was not able to prove a single allegation, the court observed the complaint to be an ‘after thought’.
Note that the court found the complaint to be an ‘after thought’, not false or malafide. That’s just one of the code words which Indian courts use for the maxim “wife can’t be punished for telling outright lies”.