The High Court on July 28 had ordered police to find the woman and children. (Representational)
A 50-year-old woman, 'missing' for 18 years, was produced earlier this week before the Madhya Pradesh High Court which imposed a cost on her husband for filing a petition knowing fully well that she had left him because of his ill-treatment.
She was forced to leave the matrimonial home along with her two sons in 2006 to save their lives, the woman told the court on Wednesday.
Nandkishore Rahangdale, her husband, had moved the court last month seeking a direction to police to find her, said his lawyer SD Gupta.
The petition claimed that the woman and her two sons, then aged 13 and 4, vanished from Kharpadia village in Balaghat district on April 18, 2006.
Rahangdale lodged a complaint with police a month later, but their whereabouts remained a mystery, it said.
After he filed a petition, the High Court on July 28 ordered Balaghat Police to find the woman and children.
Balaghat Superintendent of Police Sameer Saurabh formed a special investigation team which contacted some 70 people including the woman's relatives and succeeded in tracking her down. She was produced before the high court at Jabalpur.
The woman told the court that she fled because her husband used to beat her and the children. Her younger son Mukund died just after they escaped, she said.
The High Court took note of her allegations.
"The wife of the petitioner informed this court that her husband used to beat her and her sons mercilessly, therefore, she left his house in the year 2006," Justice Vishal Dhagat observed in his August 7 order.
"After considering the statement given by the wife of the petitioner, the petition is dismissed with a cost of Rs 10,000. Petitioner is well aware of said facts and his brutality," the order read.
"She was not living with her husband for the last 18 years. Knowing said facts fully well, the petitioner has filed this petition abusing the process of court," the court said, adding that the police had to take the trouble of finding her for no reason.
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