BostonCool
Registered Users (C)
Did you call any lawyer in the past 8 months besides worrying?
if you did not sign or formal marriage agreement she cannot threaten you under Indian marriage act, but of course she can say cheated blah blah
US Citizenship and 498a
- Thread starter krishna498
- Start date
if you did not sign or formal marriage agreement she cannot threaten you under Indian marriage act, but of course she can say cheated blah blah
xcali,
As far as I know cases like this can not be 'ex parte". This has to be formally lodged to the police ("FIR"). After FIR, usually police arrests all defendants (normally In-laws, Groom), and case is submitted to the court.
If your parents have not heard anything yet, most probably that was just a threat and you can ignore that.
To be on safe side, you can check with police station having jurisdiction over your residance (and her residence).
As far as I know cases like this can not be 'ex parte". This has to be formally lodged to the police ("FIR"). After FIR, usually police arrests all defendants (normally In-laws, Groom), and case is submitted to the court.
If your parents have not heard anything yet, most probably that was just a threat and you can ignore that.
To be on safe side, you can check with police station having jurisdiction over your residance (and her residence).
I guess you are not aware of Dowry law in India. You don't have to be married or have a marriage agreement to get in trouble.
A simple complain from girl that (to be) groom (or his family) is asking for money/gift (etc.) can land one in jail.
For naturalization purposes it's a non issue. You were never formally charged with anything ..eventhough it may cause issues for you in India, in the US for naturalization purposes it's a non issue.
Btw, what Indian province was this in?
You have not provided any details on complaint.
What happened to the complain?
Were you arrested?
Is there any pending case against you?
Also, I would suggest to check "http://www.498a.org".
There were never any legal documents signed. I was never charged,no phone call from the police, no letter in the mail. I was in India for two more weeks in which, I guess, if she wanted could have called the police and filed the case against my india phone number,which I bought pre-paid and put me behind bars under false information. The immigration police could have stopped me as well if there was a case. The strange thing was that the family knew nothing about me, where I live, what I do, what are my phone numbers in US. Absolutely nothing! Though it still makes me worry because my US citizenship is in the process. Why would this be a non-issue for the US naturalization process? Would the IO know about this issue? If so, what explanation should I give them? I wouldnt even have any documents relating to this matter.
It's a non issue for naturalization since you were never formally charged by an official,so you wouldn't need to disclose it. There's zero chance the IO would know about it..stop being paranoid.
sanjoseaug20
Registered Users (C)
First, any case would not be against your Indian phone number, it will be against you, your family, your intermediary. I am sure they know someone close to you, or you will be breaking the "6 degrees to you". Also, they did not do a rokha without knowing anything about you. It is not too hard to find out more about you, especially if you threaten other links in the chain with 498a.
About immigration stopping you - you know how fast things work in India - they don't. If you were there for 2 weeks, and no one even had your phone number, what is the likelihood of immigration knowing you had done something wrong (not that you did it) when you exited.
On the other hand, if you did not hear about it, [ and validate my assumption that the girl's side would know someone close to you and hence have access to you to make threats, ] it is unlikely the CIS will hear about it.
Most likely they made some threats in the heat of the moment, but did not go anything further. Most likely you will never hear of this again, and definitely not from the IO. Most likely you should be able to find out if they followed up on the threat by talking to the intermediary. You can convert these 'most likely' to certainty by talking to people, but sometimes you should let sleeping dogs lie.
Al Southner
Registered Users (C)
Xcali,
You should be sleeping soundly because this is a non-issue in the US.
You should be sleeping soundly because this is a non-issue in the US.
Al Southner
Registered Users (C)
This 498 seems to be pervasive in India, and I can sense fear from the people who were victims or nearly became victims of this process. I hope someone changes the law, because if this was a law in the US, 70% of young men would in prison for failure to marry or please their intended...
richmondva
Registered Users (C)
This 498 seems to be pervasive in India, and I can sense fear from the people who were victims or nearly became victims of this process. I hope someone changes the law, because if this was a law in the US, 70% of young men would in prison for failure to marry or please their intended...
Al,
I am pretty certain that the law is there for a reason. We only have one side of the story here (and also in other related posts). Based on whatever I have read on this forum so far, it may appear that only the girls family is always the one causing trouble. I don't deny that there will be some misuse or exceptions but in my opinion in majority of the cases the 498a would only be used for a reason and if the girl is actually oppressed after marriage. Imagine a normal family in the US and would it go out of the way and report someone without any reason just to spoil their lives. It most likely holds true for India as well. Although the reporting based on 498a may initially give the benefit of doubt to the girl and cause an initial warning/arrest to the boy/his family but that itself it is not sufficient or the end of it. It is followed by rigorous court proceedings that can last multiple years and consumes a lot of time, money, body and soul (for both boy as well as girl and their families).
I personally had an Indian colleague who had an arranged marriage and got his wife to the US on H4 and after a couple of years found out that the wife had an affair with another guy a few years ago. Apparently the wife had not disclosed that to him before marriage and he simply dumped her (sent her to India and just refused to even talk to her). She begged and pleaded that it was her past and had nothing to do with her present marriage but he and his family just did not care anymore and started to arrange for another marriage. Needless to say in this case the girls family went out of the way to screw up the boys life and get back her rights/alimony etc.
Again I am not implying in any way that OP or any other person on this forum is at fault. This is just a general post to make everyone understand the other side of the coin as well and treat it with an open mind since we cannot give a fair judgment by listening to only one side of the story.
sanjoseaug20
Registered Users (C)
This is the money quote. Rigorous court proceeding that can last multiple years.
Basically, it could turn into a battle of attrition. Who has more connections? Who knows cops better? Who blinks first (or runs away to US to fight another day)?
PittsfieldMA
Registered Users (C)
I am sure your Indian colleague wouldn't have told you that he sent her to India and refused to talk to her etc. How could you be so sure that she begged and pleaded?
Also an American family might not go out of way as you said but the socio/economic condition are different in India. So I think there is more misuse of this law then its usefulness.
Last edited by a moderator:
sanjoseaug20
Registered Users (C)
Why is that unusual? What comes to my mind is similar situations when we were FOBs (fresh off the boat). People came here, got married, stayed for couple of years, have a common group of friends and their spouses ... until this point nothing different from my life. Now the life for this guy moved into an alternate track -- he sent his wife back. So would his wife did not have any compatriot friends she could talk to? I know of someone (in a similar mode) who got divorced (no 498a), and the guys all sympathized with the husband, and wives all sympathized with the wife. This in a group of 10+ couples. Things like this happen. Some things leak out, some don't. I for one am absolutely not surprised to hear this ... the veracity of all of this is another matter.
I think we are moving away from legality to social topics, but I am just responding to these until a moderator stops me.
Having issues within marriage and getting trapped in 498a is very different.
If you check the site I posted earlier, you all will realize that Indian parliament passed this one-sided law without realizing the consequences. It is #1 misused IPC code in India right now. Majority of the complaints are to take revenge.
If you check the site I posted earlier, you all will realize that Indian parliament passed this one-sided law without realizing the consequences. It is #1 misused IPC code in India right now. Majority of the complaints are to take revenge.
sanjoseaug20
Registered Users (C)
Web definitions for revenge - take revenge for a perceived wrong
I agree with you, but the definition you gave is wrong. If there is perceived wrong, I can understand people filing 498. The issue is that people can file 498 to take advantage of someone who has done no wrong.
richmondva
Registered Users (C)
I had personally spoken to the guy and the reason he gave me was that she had an affair in the past and so he wanted a divorce
. As far as precise details are concerned I know it in depth from some common friends/intermediaries who were initially neutral before fully supporting the girl (in fact many of the couples close friends in the US had eventually deserted the guy in support of the girl). Some used to have numerous calls almost daily back and forth and even arranged for the girl to finally come back to the US for higher studies. So I happened to have the benefit of knowing both sides of the story 
. I have no personal interest in this to earns anyone's sympathy and I do not really have to convince you or anyone else. If you want you can take this on the face value; if you don't its your choice. I can understand some victims (either side) using the sympathy card to get recommendations/suggestions in their favor but any logical person can interpret that I have no self interest in this. In fact I don't even know whether the girl had used 498a or some other provision in law to settle this.
As far as advice is concerned I am fully with anyone wanting to provide the right guidance on how to proceed further with the immigration aspect of such a case. Ideally that is what this forum is for. I just did not want sentiments to flow in one particular direction as was evident from a few posts and tried to balance it but the best approach would be to leave the blaming part and focus on asking for/giving immigration advice.
I (and I am assuming you) cannot be a judge to whether there is more misuse of this law or not but I am sure there are enough people in power or in the right positions who would have or will eventually do the needful to set it right, if they foresee any problems. Ranting on this board in favor or against it is not really going to help. Its like arguing whether a potential restraining order normally obtained by a lady/child against someone in the US can be misused and whether that law is biased and should be allowed or not. Well you or I cannot decide or control that
. Can we?"The issue is that people can file 498 to take advantage of someone who has done no wrong ... "
Majority of the cases, yes. Individuals involved in those cases most probably believe that wrong happened to them. Their perception may be different then reality.
And, there are real victim also. And they have right to use 498a..
Majority of the cases, yes. Individuals involved in those cases most probably believe that wrong happened to them. Their perception may be different then reality.
And, there are real victim also. And they have right to use 498a..
Al Southner
Registered Users (C)
Rich,
I agree, abuse of any due process is possible in any society. A case came to my attention recently, in which the husband was beating his wife here in the DC area, both are of Indian origin. The wife now has a restraining order against the husband and I am not sure if she is going to file a 498 when she travels to India in the near future.
Balance is the key to life, but if these 498a case takes years to resolve, then it is clearly intended to punish the accused. If I were Indian man/wife and my husband/wife cheated on me, I would divorce her and change my name in the US, renouce my Indian citizenship and just travel on my US passport. However, I don't know if they can detain you in relation to this case in India, but who knows...
