Residence orders in Domestic Violence cases- Entitlement to a right to reside in the ‘shared household’, where wife was residing at the time of complaint, even though belonging to the husband’s relatives

Sneha got married to Raveen Ahuja on March 3, 1995 and started residing on the first floor of the suit property owned by Satish. After marital discord in 2014, Raveen moved out and shifted to the ground floor and filed for divorce against Sneha on the grounds of cruelty and insanity. Sneha filed an application under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005 (‘DV Act’) against Raveen and his parents, Satish Chander Ahuja and Prem Kanta Ahuja on the grounds on mental and emotional abuse where the Magistrate Court ordered the Respondents to not alienate the shared household or dispossess the complainant, Sneha. In response, the impugned injunction suit for mandatory and permanent injunction was filed by Satish Ahuja against Sneha that she could not claim a right of residence in the suit property in which his son had no share. The suit was decreed by the trial court but reversed on appeal by the Delhi High Court. The present case arises in appeal against the HC judgment. The Court dismissed the appeal and clarified that shared household is not limited to properties in which the husband has a proprietary interest and can include properties of the relatives of the husband where the aggrieved woman was staying at the time of or immediately before filing her application. Thus, it held the non-consideration of the residence order passed in favour of Sneha and her right to reside in the suit property by the trial court defeats her rights protected by DV Act and upheld the remand of case to trial court for fresh consideration keeping Sneha’s right of residence in mind. The Court acknowledged that ‘the progress of any society depends on its ability to protect and promote the rights of its women’ and equality warrants grant of some privileges to women to change their status in the society. The beneficial legislation DV Act is one such step to correct the structural inequality faced by women in marriage and this expansive interpretation of shared household will help women who face domestic violence.