Legal tangle hits Shimla ex-Royals!

Udaipur— Shimla (rural) MLA Vikramaditya Singh, son of former Himachal Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, and his family will have to appear in a Udaipur court on February 4, in a matter pertaining to a domestic violence complaint filed by his estranged wife Sudarshana Singh Chundawat. Sudarshana hails from Amet in Rajsamand district which is a thikana (estate) of the Chundawat clans who are Rajputs. She filed a case against her husband, mother-in-law Pratibha Singh, an MP from Mandi constituency and others in October last, alleging constant physical and mental harassment. The couple had got married on 8th March, 2019 , however, Sudarshana was sent back home two years later. Previously summons had been issued as the hearing was fixed for 13 January, but no one from the defendants showed up. "Their pleader put up the vakalatnama before the court and sought time to file reply. The next hearing would be on February 4 while another case against Vikramaditya for maintenance is also due for hearing on January 20" Bhanwar Singh Deora, Sudarshana's lawyer told The Mooknayak.

F-I-L made them stay together

Advocate Bhanvarsingh Deora told The Mooknayak that after the death of Virbhadra Singh, Vikramaditya’s father, Sudarshana was sent to Udaipur. The family pestered her over her low status compared to their's and tormented her not for bringing a hefty dowry. In her complaint to the Udaipur Superintendent of Police this October, accessed by The Mooknayak, Sudarshana, accused her in-laws of making her life “a joke” and alleged that she had been living “in fear”. She said that after marriage she came to know that Vikramaditya had a serious affair with one Chandigarh woman named Amreen and he wanted to marry her. However, until her FIl was alive, he forced his son to stay with his wife and even had warned Vikramaditya to disinherit from his property if he was adamant on marrying Amreen. Sudarshana alleged that during Covid, Vikramaditya and others stepped out of the house but she was not permitted to go out. Moreover, the MLA allegedly set up a CCTV camera in her room to “monitor” her. Sudarshana also said that when she confronted her husband on Amreen, “he threatened me saying that I can live with him if I want to but he can’t leave her and that he had promised her before marriage that he will keep her as a wife too”.

Marriage was on Pandit's advice

Sudarshana claimed in her complaint that when she confronted her mother-in-law Pratibha Singh, she was told that the marriage was solemnised upon instructions from a pandit (priest), who had said that if Vikramaditya married Amreen he might die an untimely death, and so, he needed to marry someone else and then take a divorce. In her letter to the SP, Sudarshana also claimed that Vikramaditya and Amreen took drugs, which affected his cognitive behaviour.

She said on October 20, 2020, she was assaulted by her in-laws, who kept stridhan (her possessions), and sent her back to Udaipur, where she has been living since. Her husband sought Rs 10 crore in cash if she wanted to continue to live with him.

She claimed that when her father-in-law died on July 8, 2021, she went to her in-laws’ place “as per social traditions”, but had to return within 15 days since they did not want her to live with them. During the Congress’s Chintan Shivir in Udaipur in May 2022 Sudarshana’s relatives approached Pratibha, who said she would talk to them in July, but in July too, the issue could not be resolved. In her complaint, Sudarshana also shared a long list of gold and silver items that had been given as stridhan and which are still with her in-laws.

Three cases on the erstwhile royals

Two separate cases are being heard in Udaipur. The first case being heard in ACJM Court 2 relates to domestic violence where the court has summoned Vikramaditya, Pratibha, Virbhadra’s daughter Aparajita Singh, her husband Angad Singh, and one Amreen. The second case is for maintenance and is being heard in a family court where only Vikramaditya has been summoned. A third complaint under IPC Section 498A (Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty), which was filed at the Mahila thana in Udaipur, is at a “counselling stage”. In some cases, women are made to undergo counselling before an FIR under 498A is filed.