Woman gets 6 years in jail for perjury, She Was Seeking More Alimony

Jyoti Joshi’s desperate efforts to get more maintenance from her husband have landed her in jail for six years. A court in Amreli punished her for giving false evidence and making a false statement before the court, during proceedings on her plea seeking more maintenance money.

Last month, a magisterial court in Amreli sentenced her to three years’ rigorous imprisonment for supplying false evidence in court under Section 193 of the IPC. It punished her with equal jail term under Section 199 of the IPC, for giving a false statement in the declaration which is by law receivable as evidence. The court ordered her to undergo both terms consecutively.

While Joshi got six years in jail, she succeeded in her bid to increase the maintenance amount – from Rs 2,000 to Rs 6,000 in December 2013. However, seven months before she got this relief from the court, the court ordered registration of a complaint against her under Sections 193, 199 and 200 of IPC.

In this case, Jyoti married Yogesh Joshi in 1987 and the couple lived in Chalala town. After matrimonial discord, Jyoti approached the court in 2003 and secured monthly maintenance of Rs 1,100 by way of a settlement in 2004. The maintenance amount was later increased to Rs 2,000.

In 2007, Jyoti filed an application for enhancement in maintenance to Rs 6,000, claiming that her husband was an accountant with the animal husbandry department in Rajkot drawing a salary of Rs 12,000. To show that she needed more money due to her dire financial status, Joshi claimed that she was living in her aunt Saguna Madhak’s house by paying Rs 2,000 rent. She thus needed more than Rs 2,000 maintenance from the husband.

The husband, on the other hand, complained before the court that his wife was lying on oath. The court ordered an inquiry and found the substance to the husband’s claim. The judge ordered the court registrar to file a complaint against Jyoti for supplying false evidence in court.

In 2014, the trial against Jyoti began. Last month, the court delivered its verdict holding her guilty of telling a lie to the court because it was established that she was not paying any rent to her aunt, because the aunt did not own any property at all.