IN JOINT FAMILY, BROTHER-IN-LAW HAS LIABILITY TO PAY MAINTENANCE TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE VICTIM: SC

Prelims level : Polity & Governance Mains level : Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice and International relations
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Why in News:

  • Even the brother-in-law has a liability to pay maintenance to a victim under the Domestic Violence Act if they had lived together under the same roof in a shared household as part of a joint family at any point of time, the Supreme Court has held.

Details:

  • The apex court Bench interpreted what the expression ‘domestic relationship’ means under the 2005 Act. They held that the term meant a “relationship where two persons live or have lived together at any point of time in a shared household when they are related by consanguinity, marriage or through a relationship in the nature of marriage, adoption or are members living together as a joint family”.
  • The court further read the term “shared household” to include “such a household which may belong to the joint family of which the respondent is a member, irrespective of whether the respondent or the aggrieved person has any right, title or interest in the shared household”.

Domestic Violence Act

  • While dowry related violence or cruelty has been covered in section 498-A of the Indian Penal Code, an additional law was enacted by the parliament as Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act of 2005 to explicitly define domestic violence in addition to dowry-related cruelty and provide maintenance, shelter, or interim finances to a woman subjected to domestic violence or harassment by an adult male.
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