In a significant ruling, a sessions court in Ahmedabad on Saturday, held that under the Domestic Violence Act, a married woman in a live-in relationship with another man does not stand to benefit from the relief guaranteed by the same.
The sessions court at Mirzapur rural court quashed summons issued to the man and his family from Bhadaj village after the woman alleged being subjected to domestic violence by her partner.
The woman filed a complaint against the man, his mother and brother for mental and physical torture, ever since her “marriage” to him in 2018. A magisterial court took note and summoned the man in March 2022. In retaliation, the man produced a copy of her notarised divorce from the previous marriage, according to which, she was divorced only in May 2022.
Thereon, the magisterial court took note and denied her being a beneficiary of claims under the DV Act
Further, the sessions court also cited a case study from the Bombay HC which had ruled that “not all cases of domestic violence can be classified under the Act since not all live-in relationships amount to being on lines of a matrimonial cohabitation.”
The court also stated: “Status of such women many be that of a concubine or mistress but then that does not entitle her to protection under the Domestic Violence Act.”
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