Bollywood actress Celina Jaitly, long absent from the spotlight, has stunned fans by filing a domestic violence complaint against her husband, Austrian entrepreneur Peter Haag. The case, lodged in an Indian court on Tuesday, details a pattern of emotional and verbal abuse, physical assaults, manipulation, coercion, and tight financial oversight. Yet amid these allegations, Jaitly’s most pressing fight remains securing custody of their young children, as proceedings unfold in an Austrian court where she has been granted limited daily phone access.
Jaitly’s attorney, Niharika Karanjawala of Karanjawala & Co, spoke candidly about the actress’s multifaceted legal struggles. These include a petition for aid concerning her brother, described as unlawfully held in the UAE; a civil dispute over property in Mumbai; and the ongoing divorce initiated by Haag in Austria. “Her children are her foremost concern,” Karanjawala emphasized. “We’ve sought custody and visitation rights in the domestic violence case as well. Fortunately, two days ago, the Austrian court permitted her one hour of daily telephonic contact with them.”
This ruling came after a period of enforced separation. “Prior to this, Peter had severed her communication with the children for some time,” Karanjawala noted. Addressing rumors of marital infidelity, the lawyer clarified that while no such issues arose during the marriage itself, revelations surfaced soon after the birth of their first set of twins. Haag’s sister confided that he had misrepresented himself as unattached when he first pursued Jaitly, concealing an ongoing live-in relationship with another woman.
The union, marked by turmoil from the outset, deteriorated sharply after 2017. During Jaitly’s pregnancy with their second set of twins, she endured the deaths of her father, one newborn son from hypoplastic left heart syndrome, and soon after, her mother from a rapid-progressing cancer. These losses plunged her into profound depression, compounded by escalating financial disputes. “He demanded her credit and debit cards, assuming full control of their finances and depleting her savings to sustain their lifestyle,” Karanjawala recounted. Haag, reportedly unemployed for years, forbade questions about his earnings, erupting in anger at any inquiry. He even sold their jointly purchased Vienna property last year without her knowledge, repeatedly claiming funds were scarce, which sparked heated confrontations.
Haag also directed Jaitly to route rental income from her Mumbai property into his personal account. Their relocations—starting in her Mumbai home, then Dubai for his work, followed by Singapore, a return to Dubai, and finally an isolated Alpine village in Austria—prioritized his professional needs. “After executing a gift deed for her assets, he quit his job and moved them to that remote Austrian spot, where he isolated her completely,” the lawyer said. With her parents gone, young children in tow, and limited grasp of the local language, Jaitly felt trapped. “She had no support network and couldn’t act independently without him.”
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Control extended to her personal documents and passport, which Haag withheld. In a bid for escape, Jaitly once searched for privacy to consult her lawyer and stumbled upon their hiding place. With a neighbor’s assistance, she fled to India, filing for justice upon arrival. Though she had visited India before and sought advice from an Austrian lawyer, Haag always persuaded her return. This time, arriving in mid-October and engaging Karanjawala’s firm in early November, she is resolute.
Jaitly’s story underscores a harrowing descent from apparent marital bliss to a desperate quest for autonomy and maternal rights, as she navigates courts across borders.
