Maharashtra minister files appeal in domestic violence case, says interim maintenance order arbitrary

The court will hear the case next on March 21.

On February 4, a Bandra magistrate court partly allowed the woman’s plea, and ordered the interim maintenance, observing there is prima facie proof of domestic violence against the minister. The court said while the minister denied any marital relationship with the woman, there is prima facie documentary evidence, including his election affidavit, which mentions their two children as his dependents.

In the appeal heard before the sessions court Friday, the minister said he and the woman parted ways in 2018 and hence there does not exist any domestic relationship. The minister said the woman entered into a relationship with him, knowing he was married. He said he had mentioned in election affidavits the two children born to them as his children but they never shared a household.

He also claimed that in 2019, when he became a Maharashtra Cabinet minister, the woman and her family members underwent a “drastic change”. He alleged they began making repeated demands for money beyond his financial capacity, and that the domestic violence case was filed to “exact revenge”.

He also claimed while the woman said they had been married since 1998, no proof was given by her. He also claimed the court had not considered that there were contradictions in her income, as mentioned in his plea and before the Election Commission of India in an affidavit filed in 2022 when she contested the by-elections.