Help! Husband is not attending divorce case hearings in India

Dubai - You may request the court to issue an exparte judgment and the same judgement may be executed in the UAE.

My divorce petition is pending before a family court in Kerala, India. I was an expat and lived in Abu Dhabi for more than five years with my husband and three children. One day, he took us back home and abandoned us. While there, he used to abuse me physically in front of my children. Once, he poured hot tea over my face. Now he is dragging the case intentionally by not attending the court hearings. As a non-working woman, I am struggling to make both ends meet. Since he is not responding to the case in India, can I file a domestic violence suit against him here? I heard he is also living with another woman without giving me the divorce. What are the legal options I have as per the UAE law?
Pursuant to your questions, you may consult a legal counsel in India and file a domestic violence against your husband for the abuses you have mentioned in your query. This is in accordance with 'The protection of women from domestic violence act, 2005, of India". Section 3 of the aforementioned law defines 'domestic violence' as "For the purposes of this Act, any act, omission or commission or conduct of the respondent shall constitute domestic violence in case it:
> Harms or injures or endangers the health, safety, life, limb or well-being, whether mental or physical, of the aggrieved person or tends to do so and includes causing physical abuse, sexual abuse, verbal and emotional abuse and economic abuse; or
> Harasses, harms, injures or endangers the aggrieved person with a view to coerce her or any other person related to her to meet any unlawful demand for any dowry or other property or valuable security; or
> Has the effect of threatening the aggrieved person or any person related to her by any conduct mentioned in clause (a) or clause (b); or
> Otherwise injures or causes harm, whether physical or mental, to the aggrieved person."
Further, you may consider to also file a criminal case against your husband in accordance with Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code of 1860, which states:
"Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty. Whoever, being the husband or the relative of the husband of a woman, subjects such woman to cruelty shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and shall also be liable to fine."
Since you have no source of income, it is the responsibility of your husband to maintain you and your children. You may file a petition under Section 125 of the Criminal Procedures Code of 1973 of India which states about rights of maintenance to wives, children and parents. However, we assume your divorce petition includes claim for maintenance for you and your children.
In furtherance, as you have mentioned that your husband is not attending the court hearings in India, you may request the court to issue an exparte judgment (judgment in absence of your husband) and the same judgement may be executed in the UAE if your husband is residing in the UAE in accordance to the Bilateral Treaty signed between India and the UAE in 1999. You may consider filing a police complaint in Abu Dhabi against your husband for committing adultery, if he is not married to the woman he is staying with in Abu Dhabi. However, depending upon his faith, he may have married the woman he is staying with in Abu Dhabi. If such is the case, then you may not have any merit to accuse him of adultery.
You may approach the Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi who may provide counselling to your husband.

What to do if your ex-boss refuses to cancel visa
I was working in Dubai as an engineer on an unlimited contract. The company sent me a termination notice (by email) in the first month of my probation period, citing restructuring. On mutual verbal understanding, the company stamped my visa and agreed that they would not cancel it until I got a new job. I resigned after two months. Two months after that, I got a new job offer. However, my previous employer is now saying that he cannot cancel my visa for some months. He says he will provide me with a no-objection certificate (NOC) after some months. How can I survive here without salary till then? Is termination notice by email is accepted? What should I do if I don't get the visa cancelled or an NOC?
Pursuant to your queries, termination issued via email by the employer to an employee is a valid correspondence if sent by the employer from his/her official email address and if it is acknowledged by the employee. We assume that you have acknowledged the email sent by your employer. This is in accordance with Article 6 (1) of Federal Law No. 1 of 2006 on electronic commerce and transactions, which states: "Nothing in this Law shall require any person or employee to use or accept information in electronic format, but a person's consent to do so may be inferred from his affirmative conduct."
During probation period, an employer can terminate an employee without notice as mentioned in Article 120(b) of the Federal Law No. 8 of 1980 regulating employment relations in the UAE.
Upon termination of the employment, it is responsibility of the employer to cancel the residence visa of an employee. In the event the employer fails to cancel the residence visa within appropriate time frame, you may file a complaint with the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation. This is in accordance with Article 5 of Ministerial Resolution No. 707 for 2006 regarding the rules and procedures of conducting business in the state for non-citizens, which states: "Without prejudice to the rules of the fourth article mentioned above, the non-citizen employee must report to the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation or the Inspection Department within three months maximum and he shall comply with the relevant directives in case of:
> Shutting down the facility where he is authorised to work, its bankruptcy or suspension of business for any reason.
> Expiration of work relationship upon a mutual agreement between parties after concluding the probation period.
> Termination of work relationship upon resignation.
> Not joining the work at the authorised work establishment.
> Termination of the work relation during the probation period.
> Job abandonment due to employer negligence of his duties or because being subject to an abuse inflicted on the latter by the employer or his representative.
> Obtaining his rights for which the competent labour directorate referred him to court, either by a court verdict or amicably."
Further, you are entitled for unpaid salaries during the course of your employment and return air fare to your home country.

Ashish Mehta is the founder and Managing Partner of Ashish Mehta & Associates. He is qualified to practise law in Dubai, the United King. Full details of his firm on: www.amalawyers.com. Readers may e-mail their questions to: news@khaleejtimes.com or send them to Legal View, Khaleej Times, PO Box 11243, Dubai.

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