JUDGMENT :

R. Banumathi, J.

Leave granted.

2. An order passed by the High Court of Bombay in Writ Petition(C) No. 169 of 2017 dated 11.01.2017 wherein the High Court affirmed the interim order passed by the Family Court in and by which the appellant-husband has been directed to remove himself from his own home and not to visit there until the divorce petition is finally decided is under challenge.

3. This case presents a very unpleasant tale of a couple having daughters who are in their early twenties witnessing a bitter matrimonial battle between their parents. The appellant and the respondent herein tied nuptial knot on 05.05.1992. The couple resided in two flats being Flat No. 102 and Flat No. 103 situated in the building known as "Hi Ville" 29th Road, Bandra (West), Mumbai. The said two flats were sold by the couple and they purchased a flat bearing No. 201 situated in "Aashna" Building, 8, St. Martin Road, Bandra (West) Mumbai by way of Agreement for Sale dated 22.11.2010. The said flat was purchased in the joint names of the appellant and the respondent herein where they have been residing with their two daughters till date.

4. After more than two decades of marital life, on 09.07.2015 respondent-wife filed a petition under Section 27(1)(d) of the Special Marriage Act for divorce against the appellant being Petition No. A-1873 of 2015 in the Family Court at Bandra, Mumbai. The respondent has sought various other reliefs including a direction to be given to the appellant to move out of the matrimonial home and handover vacant and peaceful possession of the same to the respondent and to pay a maintenance of Rs. 1,00,000/- and other consequential reliefs apart from seeking dissolution of marriage. An application being I.A. No.162 of 2015 was filed by the respondent-wife under Section 19(1)(b) of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 (for short `the Domestic Violence Act') praying for issuance of mandatory injunction against the appellant-husband to move out of the matrimonial house and handing over the vacant and peaceful possession of the house. In addition to the above, she had also sought for alimony/maintenance and the expenses of marriage of her daughters.

5. When the application was taken up by the Family Court, the respondent-wife did not press for other reliefs and she pressed only for the relief of mandatory injunction to direct the appellant-husband to move out of the matrimonial house. The application was resisted by the appellant herein denying all the allegations stating therein that identical relief with regard to injunction having been sought in the Divorce Petition, the same cannot be granted at an interim stage. The appellant had also contended before the Family Court that he being the owner of the flat, cannot be deprived from using his house. It is also the case of the appellant-husband that the allegations made by the respondent-wife are not supported by way of anything on record and that the wife owns a flat jointly with her mother at Tardeo and another one on pagadi basis.

6. The Divorce Petition has been filed on the ground of cruelty and the respondent-wife had alleged in the application seeking interim relief that she had been subjected to mental and physical cruelty due to which living under one roof with the appellant-husband has become impossible. Even the daughters who have filed their respective affidavits have supported the stand taken by their mother namely the respondent. The counsel further stated that the husband was owing a flat jointly with his mother and is just five minutes walking distance from the matrimonial home and that no inconvenience would be caused to him.

7. The Family Court passed the interim order on 13.12.2016 directing the appellant-husband to remove himself out of the matrimonial house and not to visit the same till the decision of the divorce petition. Aggrieved by the interim order passed by the Family Court, the appellant-husband approached the High Court b