Women seeks action against ex-hubby over false charges

New Delhi: A woman lawyer has moved the Delhi High Court seeking to get her estranged husband declared as a "vexatious litigant", saying he had filed several "false" and "frivolous" criminal complaints against her and her family, accusing them of offences ranging from money laundering to flesh trade and even terrorist activities, because she had sought a divorce from him.

The woman's plea came up on Tuesday before Justice Vibhu Bakhru, who appointed as an amicus curiae (friend of the court) to assist the court on what kind of orders could be issued in the matter. The court appointed advocate Sanjoy Ghose as amicus as it was of the view that it might not be possible to grant the relief sought by the woman in a writ petition. It also issued notice to the Centre and the estranged husband seeking their stand on the woman's plea filed through advocate Asad Alvi.

The court noted that the husband had filed around 22 complaints against his wife and her family with various agencies, including the police, CBI and RAW, accusing them of being involved in offences like hoarding of black money, flesh trade, money laundering, tax evasion and terrorist activities.

Alvi told the court that the complaints were filed by the husband as a blow-back to the petition filed by his client seeking divorce on grounds of cruelty and domestic violence. The lawyer urged the high court to restrain the husband from filing any further complaints against his client while the petition was pending before it.

The court, however, declined to pass any such orders, saying if required, it would ask the government to take action against the husband for filing such complaints. According to the woman's petition, her husband started making these complaints since 2014 after she sought divorce from him.

She has alleged that after she moved the divorce petition, her husband "started filing several false and frivolous complaints against the petitioner (woman) and her parents, resulting in investigation at multiple levels and multiple times leading to harassment and humiliation to her and her children and adversely affecting their rights to live with dignity and respect".

Apart from seeking to get her husband "declared as a vexatious litigant", she has also sought a direction from the court to recover from him "the cost incurred in the investigations conducted by investigating agencies on the false and frivolous complaints" made by him. She has claimed that he has "used government agencies and departments to fulfil his mala fide agenda" of harassing her and her family.