IMPORTANT POINT
Before a person or persons can be proceeded against by an aggrieved person under Section 12 of Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, she must plead and prove that such person or persons and the aggrieved person are either living together or have at any point of time lived together in a shared household or are family members living together as a joint family and the aggrieved person has been subjected to any act of domestic violence by such person or persons.

Bala Krishna Narayana, J. — Heard learned counsel for the applicants and learned AGA for the State.

2. Despite being served none has appeared on behalf of the opposite party No.2.

3. The applicants by means of this application have invoked the inherent jurisdiction of this Court with a prayer to quash the entire proceedings of case No.254 of 2011, under Sections 12.17, 18, 19,20,21 and 22 of Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 (hereinafter referred to as “the Act”), Uma v. Manoj Kumar and others in so far as the same relate to the applicants.

4. Learned counsel for the applicants submitted that the applicant Nos.1, 3 and 4 are the sisters-in-law (nanads) and applicant No.2 is the brother-in law (dewar) of the opposite party No.2 (Uma), who is the wife of Manoj Kumar applicants brother. He next submitted that the opposite party No.2 filed a complaint under the Act before the A.C.J.M. VIIIth, Lucknow against the applicants and non-applicant Manoj Kumar and Smt. Shanti Devi her husband and mother-in-law respectively which was registered as case No.24 of 2011. Learned counsel for the applicant next submitted that the opposite party No.2 complainant Uma having failed to make any averment in the complaint that the applicants are living or have at any point of time lived together with her in a shared household and on the other hand she having clearly stated in the paragraph No.1 of the complaint that the applicants who are her nanads and brother-in-law (dewar) are residing separately, the complaint does not fulfill the essential ingredients required for proceeding against the applicants under the provisions of the Act. He further submitted that the Apex Court in the case of Ashish Dixit v. State of U.P.1 has observed that in a matter where a petition is filed by a wife under the Act arraying her husband and her parents in law as parties to the proceedings has included all and sundry as respondents, the petition should be confined by the aggrieved person to her husband and her parents-in-law and should not be allowed to proceed against the other respondents.

5. He lastly submitted that in view of the above, the proceedings of the aforesaid case are liable to be quashed as against the applicants.

6. Per contra Smt. Madhulika Yadav, learned AGA made her submissions in support of continuance of proceedings against the applicants under the Act.

7. I have heard learned counsel for the parties present and perused the material brought on record.

8. In order to appreciate the submissions made by the learned counsel for the applicants, it will be useful to refer to the relevant features of the Act.

9. The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 was enacted with the object to provide for more than effective protection of the rights of women guaranteed under the Constitution who are victims of violence of any kind occurring within the family and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

10. The word ‘aggrieved person’ has been defined under Section 2(a) of the Act to mean any woman who is, or has been, in a domestic relationship with the respondent and who alleges to have been subjected to any act of domestic violence by the respondent.

11. Similarly domestic relationship has been defined in Section 2(f) of the Act as domestic relationship between two persons who live or have at any point of time lived together in a shared house hold 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.

12. The word ‘respondent’ has been defined in Section 2(q) of the Act to mean any adult male person who is, or has been, in a domestic relationship with the aggrieved person and against whom the aggrieved person has sought any relief under this Act, provided than an aggrieved wife or female living in a relationship in the nature of marriage may also file a complaint against the relative of the husband