Who Can File A Complaint Under Domestic Violence Act

Till the year 2005, the remedies available to a victim of domestic violence were limited. The women either had to go to the civil court for a decree of divorce or initiate prosecution in the criminal court for the offence punishable under Section 498-A of the IPC. In both the proceedings, no emergency relief/reliefs is/are available to the victim. Also, the relationships outside the marriage were not recognized. This set of circumstances ensured that a majority of women preferred to suffer in silence, not out of choice but of compulsion.  The enactment of Act, 2005 is a milestone for protection of women in this country. In fact, the very purpose of enacting the DV Act was to provide for a remedy which is an amalgamation of civil rights of the complainant i.e. aggrieved person. Intention was to protect women against violence of any kind, especially that occurring within the family as the civil law does not address this phenomenon in its entirety. It is treated as an offence Under Section 498-A of the Penal Code, 1860. The purpose of enacting the law was to provide a remedy in the civil law for the protection of women from being victims of domestic violence and to prevent the occurrence of domestic violence in the society. It is for this reason, that the Scheme of the Act provides that in the first instance, the order that would be passed by the Magistrate, on a complaint by the aggrieved person, would be of a civil nature and if the said order is violated, it assumes the character of criminality. From the above, it is clear that an aggrieved person can filed a complaint under the domestic violence act. To understand the term aggrieved person, herein below the definition of the aggrieved person has been reproduced.

AGGRIEVED PERSON:-

According to Section 2(a) ”aggrieved person” means any woman, who is, or has been, in a domestic relationship with the respondent and who alleges to have been subjected to any act of domestic violence by the respondent.

DOMESTIC RELATIONSHIP:-

“Domestic Relationship” has been defined in Section 2(f):-  "domestic relationship" means a relationship between two persons who live or have, at any point of time, lived together in a shared household, when they are related by consanguinity, marriage, or through a relationship in the nature of marriage, adoption or are family members living together as a joint family.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE:-

Section 3 defines “Domestic Violence”. Definition of domestic violence.—For the purposes of this Act, any act, omission or commission or conduct of the respondent shall constitute domestic violence in case it—

a. Harms or injures or endangers the health, safety, life, limb or well‑being, whether mental or physical, of the aggrieved person or tends to do so and includes causing physical abuse, sexual abuse, verbal and emotional abuse and economic abuse; or

b. Harasses, harms, injures or endangers the aggrieved person with a view to coerce her or any other person related to her to meet any unlawful demand for any dowry or other property or valuable security; or

c.  Has the effect of threatening the aggrieved person or any person related to her by any conduct mentioned in clause (a) or clause (b); or

d.  Otherwise injures or causes harm, whether physical or mental, to the aggrieved person-

 Explanation I.—For the purposes of this section,—

(i) “physical abuse” means any act or conduct which is of such a nature as to cause bodily pain, harm, or danger to life, limb, or health or

     impair the health or development of the aggrieved person and includes assault, criminal intimidation and criminal force;

(ii) “sexual abuse”  includes any conduct of a sexual nature that abuses, humiliates, degrades or otherwise violates the dignity of woman;

(iii) “verbal and emotional abuse” includes—

(a) insults, ridicule, humiliation, name calling and insults or ridicule specially with regard to   not having a child or a male child; and

(b) repeated threats to cause physical pain to any person in whom the aggrieved person is interested.

(iv) “economic abuse” includes­—

(a) deprivation of all or any economic or financial resources to which the aggrieved person is entitled under any law or custom whether payable under an order of a court or otherwise or which the aggrieved person requires out of necessity including, but not limited to, household necessities for the aggrieved person and her children, if any, stridhan, property, jointly or separately owned by the aggrieved person, payment of rental related to the shared household and maintenance;

(b) disposal of household effects, any alienation of assets whether movable or immovable, valuables, shares, securities, bonds and the like or other property in which the aggrieved person has an interest or is entitled to use by virtue of the domestic relationship or which may be reasonably required by the aggrieved person or her children or her stridhan or any other property jointly or separately held by the aggrieved person; and

(c) prohibition or restriction to continued access to resources or facilities which the aggrieved person is entitled to use or enjoy by virtue of the domestic relationship including access to the shared household. Explanation II.—For the purpose of determining whether any act, omission, commission or conduct of the respondent constitutes “domestic violence” under this section, the overall facts and circumstances of the case shall be taken into consideration.

Procedure for obtaining orders of reliefs:-  Section  12 of PWDV Act 2005 deals with a procedure to filed a complaint before the Magistrate -

Application to Magistrate.-(1) An aggrieved person or a Protection Officer or any other person on behalf of the aggrieved person may present an application to the Magistrate seeking one or more reliefs under this Act: Provided that before passing any order on such application, the Magistrate shall take into consideration any domestic incident report received by him from the Protection Officer or the service provider. (2) The relief sought for under subsection (1) may include a relief for issuance of an order for payment of compensation or damages without prejudice to the right of such person to institute a suit for compensation or damages for the injuries caused by the acts of domestic violence committed by the respondent: Provided that where a decree for any amount as compensation or damages has been passed by any court in favour of the aggrieved  person, the amount, if any, paid or payable in pursuance of the order made by the Magistrate under this Act shall be set off against the amount payable under such decree and the decree shall, notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908), or any other law for the time being in force, be executable for the balance amount, if any, left after such set off. (3) Every application under sub-section (1) shall be in such form and contain such particulars as may be prescribed or as nearly as possible thereto. (4) The Magistrate shall fix the first date of hearing, which shall not ordinarily be beyond three days from the date of receipt of the application by the court. (5) The Magistrate shall Endeavour to dispose of every application made under subsection (1) within a period of sixty days from the date of its first hearing.

The Supreme Court has considered the term “aggrieved Person” in the case of D. Veluswamy Vs. D. Patchaiammal Crl.Appeal No.2028-2029 of 2010 (2010)10 SCC469

In this case the Supreme Court has given, a wider meaning to an “aggrieved person” under sec. 2 (a) of the PWDV Act 2005. The Court enumerated five ingredients of a live in relationship as follows: 1.Both the parties must be as husband and wife and are recognized as husband and wife in front of society 2.They must be of a valid legal age of marriage 3.They should qualify to enter into marriage eg. None of the partner should have a souse living at the time of entering into relationship.4.They must have voluntarily cohabited for a significant period of time 5.They must have lived together in a shared household. The Supreme Court also observed that not all live-­in­-relationships   will   amount   to   a relationship in the nature of marriage to get the benefit of PWDV Act. To get such benefit the conditions mentioned above shall be fulfilled and this has to be proved by evidence. In this case it is further clarified that if a man has a “keep” whom he maintain financially and uses mainly for sexual purpose and / or as a servant it would not be a relationship in the nature of marriage.

In the case of Indra Sarma Vs. V.K.V.Sarma (Crl.A. No.2009 of 2013 decided on 26.11.2013 The Supreme Court has defined the scope and ambit of Sec. 2 (f) of PWDV Act 2005. In this Case it has been held that a woman who was in a live-in relationship with a married man for 14 years was not accorded the fruits of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005.It is further held that such a live-in relationship fell outside the purview of 'relationship in the nature of marriage.  While arriving at this conclusion, which has far-reaching implications on rights of aggrieved persons in non-matrimonial relationships, the Supreme Court laid down various criteria for the purpose of determining as to what kind of relationships would fall within the ambit of the expression 'relationship in the nature of marriage' as worded in the section2(f) of PWDV Act.2005.

Therefore from the above facts and judgments, it is established that an aggrieved person or on her behalf a complaint can be filed under the provision of domestic violence act.2005.