R NIVENDRAN Vs. NIVASHINI MOHAN ALIAS M NIVASHINI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners have sought for a direction to call for the records in the case in C.C. No. 356 of 2008, on the file of Judicial Magistrate Court No. II, Chengalpattu, initiated by the wife of the first petitioner seeking various reliefs under the provisions of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005. The respondent herein wife filed application under Section 12 of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, against the first respondent husband, his parents, his sister and other family members. In the present petition seeking to quash the proceedings, one of the grounds raised is that respondents 3, 4 and 6 in the application under Section 12 of the Act are women and Section 2(q) of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, would require the respondent to be an adult male person and women could not be added as respondents in the application. When this point was urged, it was found that there was a conflict of views on whether women could be added as respondents in an application under Section 12 of the Act, in the decisions in Uma Narayanan v. Priya Krishna Prasad,2008 3 MadLJ 756 and K. Kamala and Ors. v. M. Parimala and Anr.,2009 3 MadLJ 450. Therefore the matter was directed to be placed before the Honourable Chief Justice for appropriate direction and accordingly this Division Bench heard the matter.

(2.) We heard the submissions of the learned Counsel for the petitioners, the learned Counsel for the respondent and also the learned Public Prosecutor of the State.

(3.) Besides the decisions of this Court expressing divergent views leading to Reference, the decision of a Division Bench of Andhra Pradesh High Court in Afzalunnisa Begum & etc. v. State of A.P. and Anr. , 2009 Crl. L.J. 4191 and the following decisions rendered by learned single Judge of various High Courts on the subject matter were brought to our notice.