Pressured, threatened: Husband, in-laws held guilty of forcing woman into gambling in Gujarat

AHMEDABAD: A local court found a Rajkot man guilty of harassing his wife by forcing her to participate in the customary gambling sessions during the holy month of Shravan. His family members were also held guilty, while he was ordered to pay her a monthly maintenance and contribute to the house rent under the Domestic Violence Act.

According to the case details, the woman, now living in Nikol, married a grocer from Rajkot in Jan 2017. Things were fine until Shravan, when her in-laws insisted she take part in sessions of gambling because everyone in the household did. She refused, saying she came from an "educated family" and would not do so. That changed the family's behaviour towards her, the complaint states. Her in-laws allegedly began pressuring her to bring money from her parents to support their gambling parties, which also involved the family's acquaintances, even if she did not want to participate.

The complaint states the dispute escalated with the family creating a situation where she felt that if she did not take part in their gambling get-togethers, she would have to divorce her husband. She left her matrimonial home in 2019.

After she left, her in-laws filed an FIR accusing her of cheating and taking their heirloom jewellery with her. The woman then approached the JMFC court in Ahmedabad rural, filing a complaint against her husband and five of his relatives, alleging domestic violence and that she was forced to leave her marital home.

The in-laws denied the allegations, calling her claims false and pointing to their police complaints against her. The court, however, accepted her account of harassment. As she could not prove the husband's income, the court set maintenance at Rs 5,000 per month based on the typical earnings of an able-bodied person, and directed him to pay an additional Rs 2,000 per month towards house rent.