Legal Question in Family Law in India

Hello,

My sister has been married for over 9&1/2 years and has a 3 year old daughter (U.S citizen). She and her husband leaved in U.S.A until end of 2009 (starting Nov' 2001). We paid around 10 lakh rupees in dowry to her In-Laws in 2001, Somewhere middle of 2009 they started having marital discord and my brother-in-law (BIL) resorted to physical abuse in U.S.A. Then he moved his wife and daughter to India to his parent's place and left to U.S.A. His parents have started mistreating my sister and threw her out of house 2 times. We involved some mediators and tried to resolve this amicably. She went back to In-Laws place in Mar' 2010 and her husband permanently moved from U.S to India in May' 2010. Things looked all settled though her In-Laws have been ill-treating her behind her back. The company (Cognizant) that hired my BIL sent him to U.S.A in July 2010. The day before he left to U.S.A (he left on July 12th 2010) he took my sister out and bought her some sarees and opened a Bank Account in her name. His mother did not like the idea and started irritating my sister and his son. My sister could not take constant bickering and rudely left the dinner table and locked herself in her room. My BIL called up my parents the next day (July 12th 2010- the day he left to USA) and insisted they come over to have a talk. When my parents reached his house he started being rude to them and asked to take my sister with them. My sister was surprised seeing my parents and she refused to leave the house saying her In-LAWS house is her home. The MIL, FIL and her husband immediately started shouting at her and my sister immediately blamed her MIL for all the issues. My BIL lost his temper and slapped my sister ( 3 times) with incredible force infront of my parents even though they asked him to stop. My sister picked up a phone to call police but my parents stopped her from doing it. The IN-LAWS called a taxi and forced her to leave immediately with my parent and niece. My BIL left to USA that night. When my parents called me up (I am in USA too) I told them to go back to in-laws place next day and get her passport, greencard and my niece's passport too. The FIL did not give the forementioned. My BIL's brother (who is in USA too) called me up and was trying to convince me saying it is your sister's fault. I told him in clear terms that physical abuse of a women is unacceptable under any condition and asked him to give the passport and greencard back to my sister. His father still did not give it back and I sent an email saying we will register a police complaint if they don't give it back at which they gave the fore mentioned reluctantly. After this I brought my sister and niece to USA and got her small job (her first job in her life).

Months passed and in Jan' 2011 my BIL returned to India and his parents sent some mediators to convince my parents to send back my sister to their house. When my parents questioned them about the beating they went back to IN-LAWS and cam back with a reply that it will continue and good Indian wife should shut-up and keep calm when beaten. When I came to know about this I was taken back and asked my parents to convey that I will be visiting India end of March' 2011 and we can discuss this further and resolve issues. Her in-laws did not like our answer and FIL came to my parents house with couple of his close relatives to my parents home to force them to send their daughter. Unfortunately this was a uninformed visit and my parents left to Mumbai to visit my new born daughter (U.S citizen) who came with my wife to India middle of Jan' 2011. My FIL got angry and told everyone that my parents escaped out of their home (not true) so as to not deal with him. One week after this, my BIL sent a notice through the local police saying that my parent's kidnapped his wife and daughter. He filed some emergency writ petition in A.P highcourt and the court sent notice through police. My parents are fighting the case by hiring a lawyer and showing them details about my sister leaving to U.S in Sept;2011 and the emails she sent to her husband requesting him to think with cool head.

At this point we are thinking the situation is beyond repair and going towards divorce though we don't want our niece not to have her father (her father loves my niece a lot). Our attorney's are suggesting to file domestic violence case, 498A and other harrassment cases against the In-Laws and husband. We don't want to take that path and wait to see if her husband would send us a divorce notice so that he can remarry quickly (He is 36 & 1/2 years old). This is also to prevent another innocent girl from getting married into such a evil family and suffer like my sister. What are our options to prolong divorce case? How can we request alimony and child support (my sister does not make enough money to support herself and her daughter in US and is dependent on me. I am thinking of sending her back to do her Master's in US so that she can get a better job). Her in-laws have bought some properties with money we gave in dowry and are probably worth 40-50Laks (they are saying they will only give back 10laks we gave them as dowry). They are probably worth 6-8 crore rupees though I don't know know how much my BIL contribution is and how much his brother's contribution is?

If he does send a notice we would like to prolong the divorce for 2-3 years so that another girl won't enter this evil family?

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