Victim cannot seek remedy under two different enactments for same cause: HC

As a police complaint had already been filed, cognisance cannot be taken under Domestic Violence Act

MADURAI: Judicial Magistrates cannot take cognisance of a complaint under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 if the victim had already lodged a complaint with the police under the provisions of the Indian Penal Code, the Madras High Court has ruled.

Disposing of a petition filed in the Madurai Bench by a family from Dindigul, Justice V. Periya Karuppiah held that a victim could not seek remedy under two different enactments for the same cause of action as it would amount to double jeopardy which was prohibited under the Constitutional law.

The Judge also said that a woman could not demand action, under the Act, against her in-laws for writing a letter to her husband