Priya Sundar (name changed) first approached the Family Court in 2009 with her two daughters (the younger one being just about a year-old then) to file for a divorce and seek maintenance from her estranged husband. Almost seven years later, she is yet to receive any kind of relief in her case.
Priya’s husband abandoned her without reason and while she hopefully awaited his return she continued to stay at her parent’s house.
Struggling to make both ends meet, Priya finally decided to approach the court. However little did she think she would have to wait endlessly for justice. With growing daughters and a meagre paying job, she demanded that her husband pay up, but even though he would be present for the hearings, her husband would promptly disappear on the judgment day.
“About five or six times continuously, he failed to appear and when the judge asked the advocate for the reason, he would claim that my husband was unwell and would produce hospital bills to prove it. The judge would become helpless and he continued to take advantage,” she said. Priya said that her husband would neither agree to pay nor was he willing to even see his children and did not feel threatened enough to appear in court.
After seven years of hassle, Priya said that she herself raised a havoc in court and demanded that the judge take effective steps or asked the court to make arrangements for her daughters to be in their father’s custody. Finally, the court has transferred the case to the High Court. I’ve been told that the case can be disposed of in three months. After seven years I might finally see some relief,” she said.