BABITA MALKANI FILES FIR AGAINST HUSBAND AND HER INLAWS

MUMBAI: Fashion designer Babita Malkani has accused her husband and her in-laws for domestic violence and forcing her to leave her matrimonial house in Juhu.

According to the Juhu police, in an FIR (a copy of which is with HT) filed on Wednesday, Malkani has levelled harassment allegations against her husband, Pravin Malkani, an architect, her brother-in-law, Bharat Malkani, a businessman, sister-in-law Jyoti Malkani, and mother-inlaw Bindya Malkani, under sections 498 A, 336, 341, 323, 506 and 34 of the IPC. Pravin and Bharat were unavailable for comments.

According to the FIR, the family would lock her up in the ground floor, forcing her to call cops. They installed CCTVS to keep a tab on her and allegedly assaulted her. She said the family started leaking water into her bedroom , which led to a partial ceiling collapse. She told HT she has approached Juhu police ten times. Babita and Pravin got married in 1992. Pravin moved out of their house, Bindiya bungalow, at Gandhi Gram Road, in 2011. He returned in February, after which the harassment started. The police said her mother-in-law has filed a non-cognisable (NC) complaint. Vijaya Rahatkar, chairperson for Maharashtra State Commission for Women, said, “We had told her husband they can’t ask her to vacate the house, he had agreed.”

I have filed three NCS. This is my matrimonial home and they can’t force me to leave. BABITA MALKANI, fashion designer