|
FOR Mayur
Vihar resident Surbhi Anand the dream wedding came arranged
in February 2004, when she married Ashutosh Garg, an NRI software
engineer working in California with Google.
The “full
and final settlement”, too, was ‘ordered’, at a Delhi
court, when Garg paid Rs 25 lakh on Saturday as compromise
for the FIR she had lodged against him for harassment over
dowry.
Passing
the directive, the Additional Sessions Judge at Karkardooma
courts said Garg’s payment now settles all civil and criminal
disputes between him and Anand. It also takes care of future
“maintenance” for Anand, a decree of divorce by mutual
consent, and quashes the FIR she had registered at Mayur Vihar
Police Station on February 14, 2005.
“We
are grateful to the court that the matter was settled on the
first hearing (June 21) and Garg was allowed to leave for
the US,” Garg’s advocate N K Singh Bhadauria told Newsline.
“Usually, an NRI feels harassed in such cases — their
passport is seized and they’re not allowed to leave India
till the end of trial.” According to 25-year-old Anand’s
FIR, her family met all his demands, save a “flat demanded
in Hauz Khas”. Garg’s family asked for the flat for the
engineer to stay in during his visits to the city, the FIR
said.
According
to the FIR, she went to USA with Garg in February 2004, and
was constantly “humiliated and harassed for bringing insufficient
dowry”. She was forced to return home with her brother Sagar
Anand in August 2004, the FIR states. In the FIR, Anand claimed
Rs 25 lakh as compensation for the harassment meted out to
her by Garg and his parents, based in Shipra Sun City, Ghaziabad.
Garg’s parents, though, paid only Rs 4 lakh in May 2005,
and the issue was in the courts till Garg finally decided
to fly in last month.
“The
court gave him a month to come but Garg was here within 18
days,” advocate Bhadauria said. “He pleaded that his work
in the US was suffering due to his absence, and the court
took note of it — on the first hearing itself, on June 21,
the court decided the matter as both parties mutually agreed
(to settle for) Rs 25 lakh.”
As per
court directions, Garg yesterday paid the balance — Rs 21
lakh — through pay orders. The damages: Groom at wife’s
FIRing line
As per the February 14, 2005 FIR, Surbhi Anand’s parents
asked Rs 25 lakh as compensation for�
* Rs 4 lakh as bill of Hyatt Regency, Delhi, where the engagement
ceremony was held on November 2, 2003. Plus 40 gold coins,
two diamond rings and cash gifts worth Rs 1.5 lakh.
* Rs 51,000 cash, plus two diamond sets, four gold chains
and two gold rings at god bharai on February 3, 2004.
* 40 rooms booked for six days at Agra’s Holiday Inn hotel
for the groom’s family and relatives for the wedding on
February 6, 2004.
* Diamond jewellery set given on kanyadaan, gifts worth Rs
3 lakh given on lagan and sangeet functions.
From
Indian Express
|
