A court has come to the rescue of a 60-year-old woman implicated in a domestic violence case by her daughter-in-law.
A magistrate’s court had issued notices to Shalini and her son Vinod, residents of Bara Hindu Rao in North Delhi, on a complaint filed by Vinod’s wife Anita (all names changed) in June 2008 under the Domestic Violence Act, 2005 for abusing and physically assaulting her.
The mother-son duo was charged under Section 2(q) of the Act, according to which any adult male member who has been in a domestic relationship with the aggrieved person is the ‘respondent’. The respondent can also be a relative of the husband or male partner thus; a father-in-law, mother-in-law, or even siblings of the husband and other relatives can be proceeded against.
Aggrieved by the magistrate court’s order, Shalini and Vinod moved a sessions court contending that the charges leveled by Anita were false and baseless.
Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Rakesh Kumar set aside the proceedings against Shalini on the grounds that Section 2(q) was applicable to adult male members of the family.
“I have come to the opinion that the (magistrate’s) order is not sustainable to the accused, who is not an adult male as per Domestic violence Act.
The ASJ, however, made it clear that the proceedings against Vinod would continue before the magistrate’s court.
Vinod, who married Anita in January 2007, claimed his wife implicated his mother as she wanted him to leave her.
“Initially the trial court without invoking the special provision issued order against Vinod’s mother. The session’s court took account of wrongful implication of women family members in a domestic violence case” defence counsel Pradeep Nawani said.
