Hello folks, I am seeking advice on behalf of a very dear friend. This might be long so please bear with me. She was in a relationship with a guy for almost a year. Midway through their relationship their respective parents found out. A lot of drama and fights ensued, but then my friend's parents and his father accepted the relationship. His mother didn't agree at all, so in order to assuage her they told her that they would just be friends.
They both went to Europe for their respective studies and spent christmas holidays together. Somehow, my friend's mom found out about that and knowing that live-in relationships are a big deal in India, she asked for the two to get formally engaged now and married a couple of years later (when they're both well settled). Both of them agreed to that and the guy assured both my friend and her parents that he would do the engagement (no matter the consequences) His father was also present when all this discussion went down and even encouraged him to keep his commitment.
After that discussion things became murky. My friend told me it became very difficult to contact him. His father went out of station for work and his mother started creating a big scene. She threatened suicide and started getting breathing attacks and whatnot. She refused to eat and threatened to disown him if he went ahead with the engagement. My friend kept reassuring him that her parents would support him in the worst case scenario also. But he couldn't take a firm stand and one fine day he ended things with her. A couple of hours later he came and met her and told her that he had a mistake. Once again, he told her in order to prove his loyalty he will do the engagement no matter what, even if that means leaving his parents.
But then he lost contact once again. After a couple of days when she finally spoke to him he said that his parents wouldn't agree to the engagement, but that they had told him that he could marry whoever he wanted once he is done with his course. Naturally my friend was skeptical and asked what was the guarantee they won't back out later as well? (considering that he had already backtracked) But he made it very clear that he won't go against his family/leave his mother.
After that things became even worse. Her parents were furious and went to meet his parents, who weren't home. They waited 4 hours but no response. They had to dial 100 to make the police call them back. But they reached the police station directly. Things became ugly at the PS as his relatives also came along and openly assasinated my friend's character. They even became violent with a lawyer.
After that night, the guy left for Europe overnight within 24 hours without informing anyone. My friend and her parents were both confused and panicked because his family went underground and stopped taking calls/messages from them. They told their society guard to lie and say that they were out of station. The guy changed his number and went out of contact as well. When she eventually found out that he had left, she felt cheated and lied to. She confronted his parents (through some other number) to bring him back so that he could apologize and give an explanation. But nothing happened.
The Police suggested to file a rape case as they normally do. They said it would bring him back in 2 days and he would be answerable. But she and her family did not want that and just wanted a strong enough FIR to get him back for an apology...so the Police (after a lot of harassment and arguing) filed a case under 354 (A). It has been 15 days and his family remains underground and out of touch. The boy hasn't contacted her in a month (ever since he left)
She is now considering withdrawing the FIR because it's not serving any purpose. I advised her to let it stand as a family like that deserves to be punished. Any advice?
