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Polity & Governance
Mahesh

03/05/24 06:36 AM IST

Domestic Violence

In News
  • Recently,a Bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and Prashant Kumar Mishra noted “the fundamental question” raised by counsel for petitioner “is whether the compensation awarded should co-relate to the degree of domestic violence suffered by the victim.
Law on Domestic Violence
  • The DV Act is intended to “provide for more effective protection of the rights of women guaranteed under the Constitution who are victims of violence of any kind occurring within the family and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto”.
  • Under Section 3 of the Act, “any act, omission, commission or conduct of the respondent” that “harms or injures or endangers the health, safety, life, limb or well-being, whether mental or physical, of the aggrieved person or tends to do so and includes causing physical abuse, sexual abuse, verbal and emotional abuse and economic abuse”, constitutes domestic violence.
  • Harass[ing], harm[ing], injur[ing] or endanger[ing] the aggrieved person…to coerce her or any other person related to her to meet any unlawful demand for any dowry or other property or valuable security” also amounts to domestic violence.
  • The law defines an “aggrieved person” as “any woman who is, or has been, in a domestic relationship with the respondent and who alleges to have been subjected to any act of domestic violence by the respondent”.
Relief under Act
  • Under Section 22 (“Compensation orders”), “in addition to other reliefs”, a “Magistrate may…pass an order directing the respondent to pay compensation and damages for the injuries, including mental torture and emotional distress, caused by the acts of domestic violence committed by that respondent”.
  • Section 12 allows an aggrieved person or anyone on their behalf to apply to a Magistrate for one or more reliefs under the Act, including “a relief for issuance of an order for payment of compensation or damages without prejudice to the right…to institute a suit for compensation or damages for the injuries caused by the acts of domestic violence committed by the respondent”.
Judgements regarding Compensation
  • In 2008, the Delhi High Court in Chaturbhuj vs. Sita Bai held that the object of maintenance proceedings is not to punish a person for his past neglect but to prevent the destitution of a deserted wife by providing her food, clothing, and shelter through a speedy remedy.
  • In 2017, in Kalyan Dey Chowdhury vs. Rita Dey Chowdhury Nee Nandy, the Supreme Court ruled that the “amount of permanent alimony awarded to the wife must be befitting the status of the parties and the capacity of the spouse to pay maintenance”.
  • The court also relied on its 1970 ruling in Dr. Kulbhushan Kumar vs. Raj Kumari, where it held that 25% of the husband’s net salary would be just and proper to be awarded as maintenance to the respondent-wife.
  • Section 20 provides for compensation for all the losses of the aggrieved person, Section 22 exists to compensate only for the exact injury.
  • The payment under Section 22 is punitive in nature. However, the objective of paying compensation is not to put the offender in penury but to set an example and act as a deterrent.
Source- Indian Express

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