PRADEEP SHRIPRAKASH AGRAWAL Vs. PRTIBHA PRAMOD AGRAWAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Hearing was conducted through video conferencing and the learned counsel agreed that the audio and visual quality was proper.

(2.) By this writ petition, the petitioners who are brother-in- law and mother-in-law of the respondent have challenged the judgment and order dated 02.01.2021, passed by the Court of Additional Sessions Judge, Nagpur, in Criminal Appeal No.130/2020 filed by them under Section 29 of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005. The appeal filed by these petitioners was dismissed, as a consequence of which order dated 24.04.2019 passed by the Court of the Judicial Magistrate, First Class, Nagpur, in Criminal Misc. Application No. 4453/2018, stood confirmed. By the said order, the Court of Magistrate specifically held that the respondent was in a domestic relationship with the petitioners also, apart from being in such a relationship with her husband. The petitioners before this Court were arrayed as respondent Nos. 2 and 3 in the complaint filed before the Magistrate, while the husband was arrayed as respondent No.1.

(3.) Mr. Galande, learned counsel appearing for the petitioners submitted that a perusal of the complaint filed on behalf of respondent would show that insofar as the petitioners are concerned, there is absence of sufficient pleadings to show that the petitioners were in a domestic relationship with the respondent. It was brought to the notice of this Court that the petitioners happen to be residents of Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh, while the respondent after marriage resided with her husband at Thane in Maharashtra. It was pointed out that respondent is a judicial officer, who was posted at Thane at the relevant time and even if the contents of the complaint are accepted as it is, it becomes apparent that the allegations do not show that the petitioners were in a domestic relationship with the respondent. The learned counsel for the petitioners invited attention of this Court to the definitions of the terms, "domestic relationship", "respondent", "shared household" and "domestic violence" under the provisions of the said Act. Reliance is placed on the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Satish Chander Ahuja vrs. Sneha Ahuja, passed on 15.10.2020 in Civil Appeal No. 2483 of 2020.