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Prairie State Legal Services - "Making a Positive Difference" |
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| Ghita's Story Domestic Violence |
| Ghita had come to the United States from India to marry her husband, and had lived with him for two years. They had an infant son together. Her husband, in this arranged marriage, turned out to be abusive and controlling, prohibiting Ghita from seeing relatives in town, making friends, or leaving the home without him. When he was home from work, she could not even care for their son without his permission. He struck her on a routine basis. |
| One early March night during an argument, he kicked her repeatedly on her leg, abdomen and lower back, and ripped out a portion of her hair so that her scalp was exposed. After beating her, he ordered her to leave the home, but prohibited her from taking her coat or shoes. She left wearing only a sari and sandals, with no money or transportation. She spent the night behind a dumpster at a shopping mall; the following day a customer who happened to speak her dialect assisted her by calling the police, who took her to the hospital. |
| A domestic violence shelter filed an Order of Protection for her, but her husband contested it, so Prairie State was called in to represent her. After a two-day hearing, the court agreed she had been severely abused and granted her a two-year Order of Protection and temporary custody of her infant son. |