Sunil Baghel (MUMBAI MIRROR; August 3, 2017)

Almost a month after Mandana Karimi filed a domestic violence case against her husband of six months, Gaurav Gupta, and her in-laws before the Andheri Metropolitan Court, the Iranian model-actress has withdrawn the complaint, saying she “intends to save her marriage and is not desirous of any monetary gains from her in-laws”.

While the application was opposed by both her husband and in-laws, Magistrate RR Khan allowed Mandana to go through with it after hearing both sides and her in person.

In her plaint, Mandana had sought monthly maintenance of Rs 10 lakh for basic needs and Rs 2 crore for trauma and agony caused, as also loss of career and business. The plaint also stated that her husband had insisted that she convert to Hinduism ahead of their wedding and quit her acting career as it was incompatible with his family’s status. About seven weeks before filing the plaint, the actress was allegedly not allowed to enter the marital home when she returned from a friend’s place where she had sought refuge following an argument with Gaurav. The Guptas had allegedly stopped communicating with her ever since.

In her application seeking withdrawal of the plaint, filed through Advocate Taubon Irani, Mandana mentioned that Gaurav had conveyed that if she wanted to have any dialogue, she would have to withdraw the proceedings.

She added that she wants to live with her husband and wishes for her personal belongings and dog to be returned to her. “The complainant wishes to withdraw the complaint without prejudice to her rights and contentions so as to salvage her marriage,” the application reads.

In his response, Gaurav refuted the charge that he had put the condition before her to withdraw the proceedings. He added that he does not have any of her personal belongings and that she could take her dog, provided the service apartment where she is now staying allows her to keep a pet and “that she does not start claiming expenses for the dog”. He alleged that she wanted to withdraw the plaint because she did not wish to occupy the flat offered to her by him on rent, but if she was genuinely interested in an amicable settlement, he would leave it to the court to pass its orders.

Meanwhile, Mandana’s brother-in-law, Gautam, alleged that she had left no stone unturned in harassing his family and disrupting their peace. Her intent was to forcibly enter the family home and that’s why she wanted to withdraw the plaint as she would be answerable to the court if she continued with the proceedings.

Mandana responded, “I am not doing this to clarify my position or justify certain steps I was compelled to take to protect myself physically and emotionally. I never intended to, in the past, nor at any point in the future, get into a union with Gaurav for monetary gains. That he, of all people, should misinterpret my intentions, a man I intended to spend the rest of my life with and start a family with would stoop so low as to stand against me instead of with me, is equally devastating.”