The Supreme Court said that a separated daughter-in-law cannot be evicted by her husband or family members.
New Delhi:
A woman can stay in her husband’s family home even if she is separated from him, the Supreme Court said today, overturning its earlier decision to the contrary. A separated daughter-in-law cannot be evicted by her husband or family members and she has the right to remain there under the Domestic Violence Act, said court judges Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy and MR Shah.
Domestic violence in the country is rampant and every day some women face violence in one form or another, the court said. In such circumstances, a woman resigns herself to the endless cycle of lasting violence and discrimination as a daughter, sister, wife, mother, partner or single woman in her life.
The ruling dismissed an appeal filed by Satish Chander Ahuja challenging a 2019 Delhi High Court ruling that her daughter-in-law Sneha Ahuja had the right of residence even though she was in divorce proceedings from her husband Raveen Ahuja. .
Satish Ahuja had also appealed that her son had no stake in the house, as the property was his own.
In interpreting the provisions of Section 2 (shared home) and Section 17 (right of residence) under the Domestic Violence Act, the justices said: “The definition of shared home given in Section 2 (s) cannot be interpreted as that the shared home will only be the home of the joint family of which the husband is a member or in which the husband of the aggrieved person participates “.
The court also rejected the man’s appeal that his son had no interest in the property in the posh New Friends Colony area of Delhi.
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