KUSUM LATA SHARMA Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Petitioner, one of the Respondents in a Complaint Case No. 40/2011, PS Hauz Khas, New Delhi titled as "Ms. Shakuntala Sharma vs. Nagender Vashishtha & Ors" received summons from the Court of learned Metropolitan Magistrate under Section 12 of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005(in short the 'Act') to appear on 8 th March, 2011. The Petitioner states that the Complainant/Respondent No. 2 is her mother-inlaw who is having property dispute with the Petitioner's husband since 2005 and in order to coerce the Petitioner's husband to forego his share in the property left behind by Petitioner's father-in-law, the Respondent no.2 has filed the complaint.

(2.) It is contended that the object of the Act was for redressal of married women who were subjected to cruelty by their husband or in-laws. The object of the Act clearly states that it does not enable any relative of the husband or the male partner to file a complaint against the wife or the female partner. Thus in a nutshell the contention is that a mother-in-law cannot take recourse to the proceedings under Section 12 of the Act to file a complaint against the daughter-in-law.

(3.) The learned counsel for the Petitioner relies upon the object of the Act and contends that as per para '2' and '4' of the Statements of Objects & Reasons of the Act, the Act was enacted to address to the phenomena of cruelty inflicted under Section 498A IPC in its entirety. It is further contended that as per Section 2, the Respondent means any adult male person who is or has been in a relationship with the aggrieved person and against whom any relief has been sought under this Act. The proviso to Section 2(q) which provides that an aggrieved wife or female living in a relationship in the nature of marriage may also file a complaint against a relative or the husband or the male partner does not include a female relative.