If you have been thrown out of your marital home along with your infant child, and your husband and in-laws are withholding your stridhan, this represents a genuinely serious and urgent situation requiring immediate, comprehensive legal action, and understanding your available remedies is important.

The first and most immediate priority is your and your infant's safety and shelter, and it is essential to seek immediate accommodation, whether with your own family, trusted friends, or, where necessary, appropriate shelter facilities, while you pursue the legal remedies discussed below to address your housing, financial, and property rights.

Your most urgent legal remedy is filing an application under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, since your specific circumstances, being forcibly removed from your matrimonial home with your infant, squarely and directly fall within the protective scope this Act is specifically designed to address. Under Section 19, you can seek a Residence Order, specifically directing your restoration to the matrimonial home, since courts have consistently and specifically recognised that a wife cannot simply be forced out of her matrimonial home without proper legal process, or, alternatively, directing that appropriate alternative accommodation be provided for you and your infant, along with, where appropriate, an order that rent be paid for this specific accommodation.

Simultaneously, under Section 20 of this same Act, you can seek Monetary Relief, addressing your immediate financial needs, including expenses for your and your infant's maintenance, medical costs, and other essential expenses, ensuring you and your child are not left without proper financial support during this genuinely difficult period.

Under Section 18, you can seek a Protection Order, specifically restraining your husband and any other relevant family members from committing further acts of domestic violence, and, importantly, from dispossessing you of or disturbing your possession of your stridhan and other personal property.

Regarding your specifically withheld stridhan, as discussed extensively in relation to this exclusive category of property under Hindu law, this property belongs absolutely and exclusively to you, meaning your husband and in-laws have no independent legal right to retain it, and their refusal to return it constitutes criminal breach of trust under Section 316 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS), providing you with an independent criminal remedy alongside your civil protective applications.

To pursue this specific remedy, it is worth having your advocate send a formal legal notice specifically demanding return of your stridhan, itemising each specific piece with whatever documentation or description you can provide, and, if this demand is not properly met, filing a criminal complaint for breach of trust, or, alternatively, pursuing a civil suit for recovery of this specific property or its equivalent monetary value.

Given that you have an infant, custody considerations become genuinely important, and it is worth understanding, as discussed extensively in relation to custody of very young children, that Section 6 of the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, 1956 establishes a strong presumption that custody of a child under five years should ordinarily be with the mother, meaning your infant's continued care by you is generally strongly supported by this specific legal framework, and it is worth ensuring your advocate properly and specifically addresses this custody dimension within your broader application, given any specific concerns your husband's family might raise regarding this arrangement.

Given the genuine severity of being thrown out with your infant, this pattern of conduct also provides strong and compelling grounds for divorce on the ground of cruelty under Section 13(1)(ia) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, should you ultimately decide this represents your appropriate path forward, and, separately, a criminal complaint under Sections 85 and 86 of the BNS addressing this cruelty is also worth pursuing.

Throughout this process, it is genuinely important to properly document the specific circumstances of being forced out, including dates, witnesses if any observed this event, and the specific items of stridhan being withheld, since this documentation becomes essential to properly supporting each of these various legal remedies.

Given how genuinely urgent and serious this specific situation is, spanning your immediate safety, your and your infant's financial needs, custody considerations, and the recovery of your withheld property, it is essential to consult an experienced family law advocate immediately. You can reach out via Aapka Legal Advice for urgent, compassionate guidance on securing your immediate safety, pursuing appropriate protective orders, and recovering your withheld stridhan.

You can review Top Divorce Lawyers in India | Aapka Legal Advice for relevant experience handling these genuinely urgent matters.

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If formal legal representation is required, engaging an experienced advocate immediately will ensure your safety, your infant's welfare, and your property rights are all properly and urgently protected.

In summary, if a woman's stridhan is withheld and she is thrown out of the marital home with her infant, she should immediately seek a Residence Order under Section 19 and Monetary Relief under Section 20 of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, pursue recovery of her stridhan through a criminal complaint for breach of trust under Section 316 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, address custody of her infant given the strong presumption favouring maternal custody for children under five, and consider pursuing divorce on the ground of cruelty under Section 13(1)(ia) of the Hindu Marriage Act given this severe treatment.