Redressal even if harassment happened before Act

In A significant judgment last week,the Bombay High Court ruled that women who were subjected to domestic violence prior to the enforcement of the Domestic Violence Act,2005,can also seek redressal under the Act if the ill-treatment continued after its enactment.

In A significant judgment last week,the Bombay High Court ruled that women who were subjected to domestic violence prior to the enforcement of the Domestic Violence (DV) Act,2005,can also seek redressal under the Act if the ill-treatment continued after its enactment.

Continued deprivation of economic or financial resources and prohibition or denial of access for the shared household to the aggrieved person is domestic violence. Protection under the Act will be available to the respondent/wife,who was driven out from her husbands shared household prior to coming into effect of the Act of 2005,but the deprivation continued even after the Act came into force, Justice A P Bhangale held.

The court was hearing a petition filed by a man from Buldhana,who was contesting a sessions court order of January 2010 that had allowed a petition filed by his estranged wife seeking maintenance. The couple got married in 1993 and had two daughters out of wedlock. However,according to application for alimony made by the woman,her husband had subjected her to mental and physical abuse as she could not get dowry of Rs 1 lakh to aid his business and drove her out of the house in 2001.

She had sought alimony of Rs 5,000 per month and Rs 1 lakh for the medical expenses incurred for her mental illness after her estrangement. The husbands lawyer argued she cannot claim any relief under the DV Act as it has no retrospective effect. The DV Act was enforced in 2006,the husband submitted.

Stating that the husbands petition lacks merit,the court upheld the order of the sessions court granting alimony to the wife under the DV Act.

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