AHMEDABAD: Usha Chaudhary spent barely a year at her matrimonial home after her wedding before she left citing domestic violence. The main reason cited was lack of hygiene as her inlaws failed to build a

despite it being specified as a pre-condition for the marriage.

As per case details in the maintenance petition filed in a Gandhinagar local court, Usha had set a condition during her engagement to Narendra Chaudhary of Meu village in Mehsana district that her in-laws to-be should build a toilet before the wedding. The family readily accepted the condition.

When Usha went to her matrimonial home following her marriage on June 6, 2013, she was aghast to find no toilet in the house. Marital discord erupted soon after and Usha left her husband's house within a year and returned to her parents’ home.

Usha, a beautician, complained that her in-laws restricted her from working after marriage. Her chief complaint however was that her in-laws had defaulted on the toilet promise.

She complained of domestic violence and lodged an FIR at Langhnaj police station, under Section 498A of the IPC. She alleged that her in-laws had also demanded dowry.

In an application filed in Gandhinagar court in 2016, Usha claimed her in-laws also increased their dowry demands. Usha submitted she tolerated the harassment as marriage had taken place according to the ‘sata’ custom where her brother is married to a woman belonging to her husband's family.

Usha said that if she reacted, her brother’s marriage would have been disturbed. When she could not take it any longer, she returned to Gandhinagar, rented a house and started living separately. She stated that she does not have the means to earn enough and it is her husband’s duty to maintain her.

Usha demanded Rs 10,000 a month as maintenance from her husband. He objected to her claims of harassment and complained that she was accustomed to a lavish lifestyle and was not interested in living at her matrimonial home. He further claimed that she was earning a living and that she had a toilet at the rented house in Gandhinagar! The court recently ordered the husband to pay Rs 6,000 per month as alimony under section 125 of CrPC.