In this Revision filed under Sec.397 read with Sec.401 Cr.P.C. the revision petitioners who are the counter petitioners in C.M.P.No.2066 of 2008 on the file of the Chief Judicial Magistrate’s Court, Thiruvananthapuram, challenge the orders passed concurrently by the courts overruling the petitioners’ preliminary objection regarding the territorial jurisdiction of the Chief Judicial Magistrate to try (decide) the case. The interesting questions for judicial resolution are:-

i) Whether the Chief Judicial Magistrate could be said to be a judicial Magistrate of the first class within the meaning of Sec.27 of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005?

ii) When, once the local jurisdiction of the Chief Judicial Magistrate or a Judicial Magistrate of the first class has been defined by recourse to Sec.14 Cr.P.C., is it permissible for any of those Magistrates to exercise judicial powers of inquiry or trial in respect of a cause of action occurring outside such local jurisdiction?

2. C.M.P.No.2066 of 2008 was an application filed by one Sindhu, the first respondent herein under Sec.12 of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 (hereinafter referred