New Delhi : The Supreme Court has given another historic verdict in favor of women after the decision to give rights to daughters in property of her biological parents from birth. The Supreme Court has said that for a woman victim of domestic violence, home also means the residence of any relative of the husband. She can be given the right to live in their house. A three-judge bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan in the Supreme Court broadened the scope of Section 2 (s) of the Domestic Violence Act, 2005, making this remark. This section defines the husband’s shared house. According to this, a woman evacuated after violence has the right to live in her husband’s any relative’s house. Until now, this was considered to be a husband’s house, whether it was for rent or a joint family house, whose husband is a member. It did not include the houses of in-laws.
In the year 2007 (SR Batra vs Taruna Batra), the Supreme Court stated that the common house would not include the houses of in-laws / relatives. But now the apex court overturned the decision of the bench of its two judges and said on Thursday that in section 2 (s) the definition of a shared house should not be limited to the property of the husband’s residence and his joint family, rather it will also include the house of any relative of the husband.
The woman can stay there. The court said that the purpose of this law is to give higher rights to women. It is also intended to provide more effective protection of rights to women who are victims of domestic violence in the family. In such a situation, the law will have to be interpreted according to its purpose.
The bench was hearing an appeal against a decision of the Delhi High Court. In this case, the husband had said that he has no house and he lives in his father’s house which is not ancestral. According to Section 2, this house cannot be called a shared house. The trial court accepted the husband’s plea and ordered the wife to vacate the house in 15 days. The wife went to the High Court against this order and the High Court sent the case to the trial court for reconsideration. Her father-in-law came to appeal against this order in the Supreme Court.