JUDGMENT

Mridula Bhatkar, J.—Rule. By consent of the parties, Rule made returnable forthwith and heard finally.

2. This Writ Petition involves a question of law as to whether any relief can be sought against the relative of the respondent - husband in the proceedings filed under section 26 of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act before the Family Court?

3. In this writ petition, the petitioner challenges the legality of the order dated 11.5.2015 passed by the Family Court at Bandra, Mumbai in Petition No.A-1086 of 2013. The petition before the Family Court was filed for divorce under the Special Marriage Act, 1954 r/w Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 (for the sake of brevity, hereinafter referred to as ‘D.V. Act’). In the said petition, the petitioner/wife has made her mother-in-law as a party respondent. Therefore, an application was moved by Respondent No.2, the mother-in-law, under section 9A and Order 1 Rule 10 of the Civil Procedure Code for deleting the party on the ground of a misjoinder of party. An issue was raised before the Family Court that Respondent No.2 mother-in-law cannot be made a party to the nullity proceedings filed under the H