Where to file: 498A (now Section 85 BNS), divorce and child custody

Information about a cognizable offence can be given at any police station, whatever the area where it happened. Cruelty under Section 85 BNS (old Section 498A IPC) is cognizable when the information comes from the woman, a relative of hers by blood, marriage or adoption, or a notified public servant. A station outside its area registers it as a zero FIR; in practice it is then sent to the station that has the area.

An offence is ordinarily inquired into and tried by the court for the place where it was committed. If the matrimonial home is in Ghaziabad district, that is the police station for that area and its magistrate at the District Court, RDC Raj Nagar.

In Rupali Devi v. State of U.P., (2019) 5 SCC 384, the Supreme Court held that the courts at the place where a wife takes shelter, after leaving or being driven out of the matrimonial home because of cruelty, also have jurisdiction, depending on the facts, because the effects of the cruelty she suffers there are a consequence under this section. A wife who has moved to her parents' home in Ghaziabad can usually file in Ghaziabad.

Where an offence is committed partly in one place and partly in another, is continuing, or consists of acts done in different places, a court for any of those places can try it.

An offence committed outside India by an Indian citizen can be dealt with where he is found in India or where the offence is registered in India, but no inquiry or trial without the previous sanction of the Central Government.

For an offence punishable with three years or more but less than seven, the station may, with a Deputy Superintendent of Police's permission, hold a preliminary enquiry of up to 14 days to see whether there is a prima facie case. Section 85 BNS (old Section 498A IPC) carries up to three years, so this can happen before an FIR.

The law says to send the substance of the complaint in writing, by post, to the Superintendent of Police concerned. Ghaziabad is a Police Commissionerate, and the letter is addressed according to the police station: generally to the SHO, or to the DCP, ACP or Police Commissioner of that area if you meet that officer in person. If that fails, apply to the Magistrate to direct an investigation. The Supreme Court has held that the letter to the SP is now a required first step: a copy of it goes with the application, supported by an affidavit (Om Prakash Ambadkar v. State of Maharashtra, 2025 INSC 139). Choose the police station below to see which Ghaziabad court takes the application.

A court takes up a Section 85 case on a police report or on a complaint by the wife, her father, mother, brother or sister, or her father's or mother's brother or sister; any other relative by blood, marriage or adoption needs the court's leave. In a complaint case the Magistrate examines the complainant and witnesses on oath, and under the BNSS hears the accused before taking cognizance.

A domestic violence case can be filed where she lives, even temporarily, or works, where the husband lives or works, or where the cause of action arose. Maintenance under Section 144 BNSS (old Section 125 CrPC) can be claimed where she lives; in Ghaziabad it goes to the Family Court.

A Family Court or district court for the place of the wedding can hear the petition, whoever files it.

The court for the place where the respondent lives on the day the petition is filed.

The court for the place where husband and wife last lived together, such as the matrimonial home.

Since the 2003 amendment, a wife who files can do so where she lives on the day she files, for example at her parents' home in Ghaziabad. A husband has no matching option.

Where the respondent lives outside India, or has not been heard of as alive for seven years or more, the petitioner can file where the petitioner lives. This is the head a husband in Ghaziabad uses when the wife lives abroad.

Both spouses file together, so there is no respondent. The settled choices are where the marriage was solemnised and where you last lived together. The Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat High Courts have accepted a joint petition where the wife lives, because she is one of the petitioners, and the Delhi High Court where either spouse lives; the Allahabad High Court has not ruled on it.

For a court marriage or inter-faith marriage under the Special Marriage Act, Section 31 gives the same choices: where the marriage was solemnised, where the respondent lives, where you last lived together, where the wife lives if she files, and where the petitioner lives if the respondent is outside India.

Where a Family Court is set up, divorce, maintenance and custody cases go to it and the civil courts lose that jurisdiction. Ghaziabad's Principal Judge, Family Court sits in Room 1, 1st floor, 15 Court Room Building, District Court RDC Raj Nagar.

The High Court can move a case from one district to another within the state; the Supreme Court can move it to another state. Courts weigh the wife's ability to travel and look after the children when they decide.

In any case under the Hindu Marriage Act the court can pass interim orders on the custody, maintenance and education of minor children, and provide for them in the decree. An application in the pending case is usually faster than a fresh petition.

An application about the guardianship or custody of a child goes to the court for the place where the child ordinarily resides. For a child who ordinarily lives in Ghaziabad district, that is the Family Court at RDC Raj Nagar.

Where the child ordinarily resides is the only test under Section 9, and it is mainly a question of intention and fact. In Ruchi Majoo v. Sanjeev Majoo, (2011) 6 SCC 479, the Supreme Court said that where both parents had decided where the child would live, one parent reversing that decision alone could not change it. Where a child is removed from the custody of a guardian, the court can order the child's return.

A writ of habeas corpus for a child lies even against the other parent, where holding the child is without authority of law, and the court acts in the child's best interest (Tejaswini Gaud v. Shekhar Jagdish Prasad Tewari, (2019) 7 SCC 42; Yashita Sahu v. State of Rajasthan, AIR 2020 SC 577). Where the facts need a detailed inquiry, the High Court may send the parties to the Family Court instead. For a child in Ghaziabad, the petition is in the Allahabad High Court.

India is not a party to the 1980 Hague Child Abduction Convention, so a foreign court's order is not enforced here automatically. The Indian court decides on the child's welfare; it may order a prompt return in a summary hearing if the case is brought soon after the removal and the child has not put down roots here.

Section 9 looks to where the child ordinarily resides. For a child whose home is abroad, the courts of that country usually decide custody, and an Indian petition depends on showing that the child ordinarily resides in India.

An application for guardianship of a child's property can go to the court where the child ordinarily resides or where the property is. A natural guardian under Hindu law cannot sell, mortgage or gift the child's immovable property without the court's permission.

The welfare of the child is the paramount consideration. Under Hindu law the father, and after him the mother, is the natural guardian, but custody of a child under five ordinarily stays with the mother.