Pune: A domestic violence victim has decided to donate Rs 51,000 to drought-affected people out of the Rs 7.55 lakh settlement she won from her husband.

The case was in the courts for three years but was settled within two hearings through mediation. Fed up with repeated adjournments, the woman had told her husband, an engineer who earns Rs 65,000 per month, to give in writing that he cannot pay the compensation and then she would accept just Re one. Adv Dipak Shamdire and Bharati Jagade represented Reshma in the case.

Reshma, who holds an MBA degree, was brought up in Dubai. Reshma returned to India when she and Asif (both names changed) got married in 2008. Things went smoothly for a while. Then Reshma started suffering from frequent vomiting. Reshma claimed that her husband and in-laws did not provide her with proper medical care. Her parents took her to Dubai and later, she underwent a minor surgery in Mumbai and her condition was cured.

When she went to back to her in-laws, she was shocked to find that her husband had married again and also had had a child.

Reshma moved the Pune Cantonment court in 2010 seeking compensation of Rs 20 lakhs which was reportedly spent on the marriage, gold ornaments and other items. The court had then awarded Rs 4,000 per month as interim maintenance amount. She had also filed a police case under Section 498A (harassment by husband and in-laws) of the Indian Penal Code.

Court proceedings then slowed down and the case. Asif’s family members claimed that he had divorced Reshma but no document was produced in the court. He also was not ready to pay more than Rs 5 lakh as settlement.

Fed up with adjournments, Reshma applied for a settlement through mediation on March 1, 2013. Judicial Magistrate (First Class) Umeshchandra More convinced both the parties in two hearings and the case was settled after Asif agreed to pay Rs 7.55 lakh and return the items given in marriage.