India News | Property Dispute Between Family Members Cannot Be Converted into Domestic Violence Case:HC

New Delhi, Aug 24 (PTI) The Delhi High Court Tuesday said that a property dispute between family members, in the absence of a matrimonial dispute, cannot be converted into a case under the Domestic Violence (DV) Act as the same would amount to its abuse.

Justice Prathiba M Singh observed that the DV Act was a social welfare legislation granting protection to women who are victims of domestic violence and its misuse ought not to be allowed to happen by stretching it over and beyond its purpose and ambit.

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“...every dispute amongst family members cannot be converted into a dispute under the DV Act. The same ought not to be allowed to happen, as it may cause unintended misuse of the provisions of the said Act creating turmoil within families, especially when there is no matrimonial dispute whatsoever between husband and the wife, i.e., son and daughter-in-law,” said the judge.

The court, which was dealing with an appeal concerning a father's suit for removal of his son and daughter-in-law from a residential property, observed that the DV Act “cannot be used as a ploy by the son, to either claim a right in his father's property or continue to retain possession of the father's property, on the strength of his wife's right of residence.”

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The lower courts had recognized the father as the exclusive owner of the property and declared the son and daughter-in-law as licensees.

The husband-wife duo, in appeal, contended that the right of the daughter-in-law under the DV Act to claim 'shared household' and the right to reside could not be taken away.

Considering that there were admittedly no complaints or no cases filed or pending under the DV Act at the instance of the daughter-in-law and there was no marital discord, the court said “a civil dispute relating to ownership of property cannot be converted, in this manner, into a case under the DV Act, as the same would amount to be an abuse of the beneficial provisions of the DV Act, by stretching it over and beyond its purpose and ambit.”

“The present case is a civil suit filed by the father against his son and daughter-in-law, between whom there is no marital discord or estrangement. The father is merely seeking to evict both his son and daughter-in-law, on the strength of his ownership of the suit property,” it noted.

The remote allegations against the second son in the written statement would not result in a finding of shared household, the court added as it dismissed the appeal.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)