The Family Court can permit amendments to Original Petitions to include reliefs under the Domestic Violence Act, affirming that such amendments do not alter the petition's nature.

JUDGMENT :

M.B.Snehalatha, J.

The petitioner/the estranged wife of the respondent has filed this Original Petition challenging Ext.P6 order of the learned Family Court, Kunnamkulam, by which her petition filed under Order VI Rule 17 of Code of Civil Procedure to incorporate reliefs under Sections 18 and 19 of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 (hereinafter referred to as 'DV Act, 2005') was dismissed by the Family Court.

2. The Original Petition was filed by the petitioner before the Family Court under Section 7(1) Explanation (c) and (d) of the Family Courts Act seeking permanent prohibitory injunction restraining the respondent from trespassing into the petition schedule property and from forcibly evicting her from the said property.

3. During the pendency of the Original Petition, petitioner filed I.A.No.4/2024 seeking amendment of the Original Petition to incorporate reliefs under Sections 18 and 19 of the DV Act, 2005 also.

4. Respondent resisted the said petition for amendment and sought dismissal of the said petition contending that there was no domestic violence against the petitioner; that till the filing of the petition seeking amendment, she had not filed any petition seeking reliefs under the DV Act; that in O.P.No.1716/2015 filed by her she had claimed ownership over the property which was found against her and therefore her petition to amend the Original Petition seeking reliefs under the DV Act has been filed only as a counterblast to O.P.No.262/2023 filed by the respondent against her seeking eviction from the petition schedule property.

5. By order dated 10.9.2024, the learned Family Court dismissed I.A.No.4/2024 which is impugned herein.

6. Heard both sides.

7. The learned counsel for the petitioner vehemently contended that Section 26 of the DV Act entitles the petitioner to seek reliefs under Sections 18 to 22 of the DV Act and therefore the learned Family Court is in error in dismissing the petition seeking amendment filed by the petitioner to incorporate the reliefs under Sections 18 and 19 of DV Act, 2005.

8. The learned Counsel for the respondent on the other hand contended that an Original Petition filed under Section 7 of the Family Courts Act cannot be permitted to amend to incorporate reliefs under the DV Act and if the amendments sought by the petitioner is allowed, it would change the very nature and character of the Original Petition as rightly held by the learned Family Court and therefore the amendment sought for is not to be allowed and the order impugned be left uninterdict.

9. Petitioner/the estranged wife of the respondent filed the Original Petition before the Family Court under Section 7(1)(c) and (d) of the Family Courts Act seeking a decree of permanent prohibitory injunction restraining the respondent and his men from trespassing into petition A schedule property and from forcibly evicting her and her children from the house situated therein. The case of the petitioner is that after the marriage with the respondent, her mother transferred 25 cents of land for the construction of the house; that the house therein was constructed by utilising the sale proceeds of her gold ornaments;

that she and her children are residing in the said residential property. Her grievance in O.P.No.1187/2023 is that the respondent/husband ill-treated her and her children and he married another lady and he is now trying to evict her forcibly from the petition schedule property and also trying to alienate the said property. According to her, the petition schedule house wherein she now resides is her 'shared household' as defined in the DV Act and therefore she has every right to continue her residence in the said house; that the respondent has no right to evict her or to alienate the said property and therefore she is entitled to get the reliefs under Sections 18 and 19 of the DV Act for which she filed the petition under Order VI Rule 17 of CPC to amend the Original Petition to incorporate the said