SHARJAH Around this time two years ago Kavita Khanna, 34, was over the moon, having just got married after a brief courtship.
It didn’t matter that her husband was 10 years younger, from a different community and earned five times less as she was madly in love.
Valentine’s Day fell a week after their wedding and Kavita celebrated with a cake at their Bur Dubai accommodation.
It’s the season of love again, but now Kavita is locked in an acrimonious legal battle with her Sikh husband, saying he and his parents beat her mercilessly, emptied her bank account and dumped her after she gave birth to a baby girl.
Following a police complaint, Kavita’s in-laws were arrested in India and charged with domestic violence. They were released on bail in September 2015 and returned to the UAE shortly after. But her husband’s whereabouts remain unknown.
Suspecting him to be living in hiding in Sharjah where his father runs an auto workshop, Kavita has now air dashed to the UAE with her seven-month-old baby girl.
Earlier this month, she filed a case in Sharjah Family Court, urging authorities to find her ‘missing’ husband so that she can seek maintenance from him.
“I had saved Dh350,000 working for various companies over seven years in Dubai. He took everything,” she claimed, showing receipts of money transfers to bank accounts in India. “Now I am penniless. How can I take care of my child without money? My husband cannot run away from his responsibility and must pay us maintenance,” added Kavita who is in the UAE on a visit visa and living with her elder sister in Sharjah.
Deceit
Kavita claimed her husband married her because of money and hid the news from his UAE-based parents because he didn’t want them to know that he was living off her.
“He earned Dh3,000 but told his parents he has moved to Bur Dubai because he had found a high-paying job. Every time I asked him to tell his parents about our relationship he would come up with an excuse. Eventually, I broke the news to them. At first they were in denial but when I showed them our marriage certificates, they tricked me into coming to their hometown Jalandhar, India, saying they will hold a lavish wedding ceremony for us. It was a trap. We did have a ceremony in September 2014 but it was all from my money,” Kavita alleged.
“When I reached Jalandhar, my cellphone and debit card were snatched. I was also forced to remit my entire life savings to my in-law’s account as dowry. When I resisted, my husband thrashed me. The torture was relentless. Our marriage was already on the rocks when we returned to Dubai in January last year but I still hoped to salvage the relationship as I was pregnant. By then I had stopped working because of the baby. However, when a sonography test in Dubai revealed that I was carrying a baby girl, my husband got angry and beat me. He wanted me to go to India and abort the foetus, but I refused. In February 2015, my in-laws took me along with them to my hometown Mumbai. Even those air tickets were bought from my debit card. They thought I would stay quiet about my ordeal, but I have had enough. My in-laws were arrested following my complaint, but my husband still remains elusive. I will not rest until I find him and bring him to justice,” said Kavita.
XPRESS could not contact Kavita’s husband despite several attempts. His father, who is also an accused, said he has no clue about his son as he has disowned him. “I don’t know where he is. My son married against our will and caused us immense sufferings. I have disowned him and don’t want to discuss this case,” he said.