The case arose from an application by a 40-year-old woman from Kozhikode alleging domestic violence by her husband and in-laws
the bench cited Section 2(f) of the Act, which stipulates that, to bring a person within the ambit of a domestic relationship, it must be established that the parties live, or have at any point in time lived, together in a shared household and that their relationship falls within one of the categories contemplated under the provision, namely, consanguinity, marriage, a relationship in the nature of marriage, adoption, or being family members living together as a joint family While considering the petition. The court also noted that the petitioners had never lived with the complainant at any point in time, had not shared a household with her, and had not lived together with her as members of a joint family. Accordingly, it allowed the petition and quashed the proceedings against the petitioners. However, the bench allowed the proceedings against the remaining respondents to continue in accordance with law.
To array them as respondents in a proceeding under the PWDV Act, it must be established that they were in a domestic relationship with the aggrieved person, according to the petitioners. It was further submitted that, apart from certain general and omnibus allegations, no specific or serious acts of domestic violence had been attributed to them. Meanwhile, the complainant opposed the petition, arguing that the question of whether the acts of domestic violence alleged in the petition were in fact perpetrated by the petitioners was a matter to be conclusively decided only after a full-fledged trial.
A bench of Justice Jobin Sebastian issued the ruling while allowing a petition filed by two siblings-in-law residing in Mumbai, challenging proceedings before a magistrate court initiated against them under the PWDV Act on an application filed by a 40-year-old married woman from Kozhikode. Kochi : The high court has ruled that persons cannot be arrayed as respondents in a case under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence (PWDV) Act if they did not reside in a shared household with the alleged aggrieved person at any point in time. The case arose from her application alleging domestic violence by her husband and in-laws, in which she arrayed her husband, his parents and her siblings-in-law (brother-in-law and sister-in-law) as respondents.