Marital discord complaints pending for three months in Haryana

rveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal, July 16

The fate of hundreds of couples embroiled in matrimonial disputes hangs in balance as mediation proceedings at the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) centres across the state remain suspended in light of the Covid pandemic.

In all, 203 complaints are pending in Yamunanagar district, 110 in Faridabad, 80 in Karnal, 60 in Ambala, 25 in Jhajjar and 20 in Panipat.

The law provides for mediation proceedings before registering an FIR.

A cop at the Karnal women’s police station said, “Every day, we receive one or two such complaints. Since mediation proceedings are suspended, we make efforts to settle the dispute through counselling. We have registered one FIR, in which the medico-legal report (MLR) was submitted.”

A woman from Karnal said she had in March filed a complaint against her husband, mother-in-law and two others for domestic violence and demanding dowry. “No action has been taken,” she said.

SP Surinder Singh Bhoria said mediation proceedings were expected to start on August 1. In Faridabad’s Central Police Station (women), seven out of 16 cases were resolved during the lockdown.

The women’s police station in Yamunanagar received 398 complaints from April 1 to July 15. Of these, 164 were disposed of, while FIRs were registered in 31 complaints.

Jhajjar women’s police station SHO Sudesh said, “As the district’s ADR centre is closed, the police have started the mediation process.”

Charu Bali, ADGP (Crime Against Women), said, “Directions have been issued to all SPs to take action on marital discord complaints on priority. The police try to resolve the disputes through counselling while following all safety guidelines.”

(Inputs from Bijendra Ahlawat, Ravinder Saini, Nitish Sharma, Mukesh Tandon and Shiv Kumar Sharma)