In a big win for married women who are mistreated or tortured at
their in-laws’, the top court has observed that the wife would have the right
to claim the “shared household” of the joint family under the Domestic Violence
Act
The
Supreme Court, on October 15, revised its previous ruling on the Domestic
Violence Act and said that daughters-in-law have the right to stay at their
in-laws' house. In effect, Indian women can now claim residential rights at her
in-laws house both during and after domestic violence proceedings.
In
a big win for married women who are mistreated or tortured at their in-laws,
the top court has observed that the wife would have the right to claim the
“shared household” of the joint family under the Domestic Violence Act.
Earlier,
on August 12, the Supreme Court had ruled in favour of
a daughter’s coparcenary rights in a joint Hindu family property. A
three-judge bench of Justices Arun Mishra, S Nazeer, and MR Shah had said
provisions contained in substituted Section 6 of the Hindu Succession Act,
1956, confer the status of coparcener on the daughter born before or after
amendment in the same manner as a son with the same rights and liabilities.
What
is a shared household?
Shared
household refers to property owned by a woman’s husband, or by the joint family
of which the husband is a member. This does not include self-acquired property
of any family member.
According
to an India.com report, a three-judge SC bench headed by
Justice Ashok Bhushan said as per the definition of 'shared
household' in Section 2(s) of the Domestic Violence Act, a woman who has been
subject to domestic violence has the legal right to the shared household of the
family and also ancestral house of the mother-in-law.
The
Supreme Court had held in its 2005 order that a wife would be entitled to a
shared household only if the aggrieved person lives there or had lived in a
domestic relationship in the past.
Notably,
Section 17(1) of the Domestic violence Act states that every woman in a domestic
relationship will have the legal right to reside in a shared household,
regardless of her title or beneficial interest in it.
(With ANI inputs)
First Published on Oct 15, 2020 09:00 pm
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