In one of the unusual cases, a mother-in-law accused her daughter-in-law of domestic violence and filed a complaint against her. According to the complaint made by the mother-in-law under the Protection of Women from the Domestic Violence Act, 2005 (Domestic Violence Act), her daughter-in-law allegedly harassed her husband and son before ejecting them from their home. She has also demanded Rs. 25 lakh in damages from her.
On Friday, a hearing in the case is anticipated at the Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) court in Mirzapur. It is normally seen that the daughter-in-law brings claims under the Domestic Violence (DV) Act against her spouse and her in-laws.
The woman’s attorney has used the Karnataka High Court decision and other such decisions to support the claim that a mother-in-law may also file a complaint against a daughter-in-law under the DV Act. Women are shielded from all forms of domestic abuse by the law.
The complaint was made primarily in accordance with Section 19 of the Act, which grants the women who have been wronged several remedies, including a prohibition against the other party’s dispossession of or other interference with the possession of the wrong person from the shared household, whether the respondent has a legal or fair interest in the shared household. Under Section 22 of the DV Act, she has also requested compensation of Rs. 25 lakh.
According to the case information, Rina Dixit (name changed) accused her daughter-in-law Madhuri (name changed) of thrashing and abusing her over small household matters.
According to the complaint, Rina was forced to live in rented housing rather than her own home, which her husband had purchased in 2005. Madhuri, Rina’s daughter-in-law, and her young son currently dwell in the home that Rina’s husband bought. Madhuri does not share a residence with her husband.
Rina also said that when her son married Madhuri in 2015, Madhuri did not like being in a joint family and would pressurise her husband to leave the house. She soon began verbally and physically abusing Rina.
Rina claimed Madhuri had threatened to falsely accuse her husband’s parents and had stopped her husband from speaking to them. She later kicked them out of their house and warned them against trying to go back. The son has in the meantime requested a divorce through the family court.
