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2010 Supreme(Del) 1143

IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
Shiv Narayan Dhingra, J.
Vijay Verma - Appellant
Versus
State N.C.T. of Delhi - Respondent
Crl. M.C. No. 3878/2009
Decided On : 13-08-2010

Advocates Appeared:
Mr. K.K. Manan, Mr. Tarun Goomber, Mr. Nipun Bhardwaj, Mr. Pankaj Mandiratta and Mr. Ashish George, Advocates for the Petitioner.
Mr. Sunil Sharma, APP for the State.
Mr. Sunil Sethi, Mr. Sumit Sethi & Mr. B.C. Mishra, Advocates for the Respondent No. 2.

Headnote:

Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act - Section 12 - Interim orders of police protection sought to stay in the premises - Wife making application not `living together' in the house immediately before filing of application rather settled in USA after leaving her parents here - Only the violence committed in a shared household covered by the provisions of the Act - Application held to be not maintainable.

Judgement Key Points

Based on the provided legal document, the key points are as follows:

  1. The application filed under Section 12 of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act was found to be not maintainable because the petitioner was not living in a shared household at the time of filing (!) (!) (!) .

  2. The petitioner, a resident of the USA, had settled in her own house in America after leaving her parental home, and she was not living with the respondent in a shared household immediately before filing the application (!) (!) .

  3. The court emphasized that the definition of 'domestic relationship' under the Act requires the parties to have lived together in a shared household. Merely having a past relationship or property rights does not suffice if the parties have established separate households (!) (!) .

  4. The concept of 'living together' in a shared household is crucial; temporary absences or going abroad do not necessarily end the domestic relationship unless a separate household is established and belongings are moved out (!) .

  5. Acts of violence committed when the parties are living separately do not fall within the scope of domestic violence under the Act, which is intended to address violence within shared households (!) .

  6. The purpose of the Act is to provide remedies to those living in a shared household. Since the petitioner had already established her own household abroad and was not living in the shared household at the time of the application, her claim was considered a misuse of the provisions (!) .

  7. The court dismissed the petition, ruling that the application was not maintainable given the circumstances of the case, particularly the absence of a shared household at the relevant time (!) .

Please let me know if you need further analysis or assistance.


Shiv Narayan Dhingra, J.

1. This petition has been filed under Section 482 Cr. P.C. assailing order of learned A.S.J. dated 7th September, 2009, upholding the order of learned M.M. dated 11th July, 2009.

2. Brief facts relevant for the purpose of deciding this petition are that the petitioner herein had filed an application under Section 12 of Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act making her brother and his wife as respondents. She sought an interim order from the Court of M.M. for immediate residence rights and police protection so that she could stay at premises No. A-181, Defence Colony, Delhi, whenever she visited India. The petitioner is a permanent resident of USA and is living in USA since year 2000. She came to India on a visit on 15th July, 2008 and alleged that when she went to her parental house on 16th July, 2008, she was not allowed to enter her parental house and hence the application.

3. Learned MM in her order observed that in this case the petition was more in a nature of claiming right in the property. The whole dispute seemed to be property dispute between the parties and there was no ground to pass an interim order of residence. The learned ASJ upheld this contention in appeal.

4. It is not disputed that father of the petitioner is not alive. Property No. A-181, Defence Colony, New Delhi, was owned by the father of the petitioner and respondent No. 2. Petitioner claimed right in the property alleging that she had a right in her father's property whereas respondent No. 2 relied upon a Will executed by father bequeathing his rights and share in the property in favour of his grandson. The respondent also relied upon an affidavit earlier executed by the petitioner showing that she had received her share in the property. It is also not disputed that a suit for partition titled as "Indra Warman v. Kishan Kumar Verma", being CS(OS) No. 2137 of 2006, filed by the sister of petitioner was pending in the High Court wherein the petitioner was one of the defendants and the petitioner herself also filed a suit for partition in the High Court being CS(OS) No. 2028 of 2009, titled as " Vijay Verma v. Kishan Kumar Verma & Ors."

5. Filing of a petition under Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act by the petitioner taking shelter of domestic relationship and domestic violence needs to be considered so that this Act is not misused to settle property disputes. Domestic relationship is defined under the Act in Section 2(f) as under:

"(f) `domestic relationship' means a relationship between two persons who live or have, at any point of time, lived together in a shared household, when they are related by consanguinity, marriage, or through a relationship in the nature of marriage, adoption or are family members living together as a joint family."

6. A perusal of this provision makes it clear that domestic relationship arises in respect of an aggrieved person if the aggrieved person had lived together with the respondent in a shared household. This living together can be either soon before filing of petition or `at any point of time'. The problem arises with the meaning of phrase "at any point of time". Does that mean that living together at any stage in the past would give right to a person to become aggrieved person to claim domestic relationship? I consider that "at any point of time" under the Act only means where an aggrieved person has been continuously living in the shared household as a matter of right but for some reason the aggrieved person has to leave the house temporarily and when she returns, she is not allowed to enjoy her right to live in the property. However, "at any point of time" cannot be defined as "at any point of time in the past" whether the right to live survives or not. For example if there is a joint family where father has several sons with daughters-in-law living in a house and ultimately sons, one by one or together, decide that they should live separate with their own families and they est

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