New Delhi, Oct 9: From now on, complaints can be filed against women too under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act.
The Supreme Court has struck down a provision that allowed a complaint only against an adult male under the act. In a ruling having far-reaching consequences, the apex court declared that the words “adult male” in Section 2(q) of the 2005 act will stand deleted since it does not square with Article 14 (equality) of the Constitution.
Under Section 2(q), only an adult male can hitherto be prosecuted, thereby saving women from any adverse proceedings. “If ‘respondent’ is to be read as only an adult male person, it is clear that women who evict or exclude the aggrieved person are not within its coverage, and if that is so, the object of the act can very easily be defeated by an adult male person not standing in the forefront, but putting forward female persons who can therefore evict or exclude the aggrieved person from the shared household,” the court said.
A bench of Justices Kurian Joseph and R F Nariman relied upon the definition of domestic violence as given in the social beneficial legislation, which provided various innovative remedies in favour of women against the perpetrators, to hold that the provision would defeat the object of the law.
“It is clear that such (domestic) violence is gender neutral. It is also clear that physical, verbal, emotional and economic abuse can all be by women against women. Even sexual abuse may, in a given circumstance, be by one woman on another,” the court said.
The court noted that the words “adult male person” are contrary to the object of affording protection to women who have suffered from domestic violence of any kind.
“We, therefore, strike down the words “adult male” before the word “person” in Section 2(q) as these words discriminate between persons similarly situated, and far from being in tune with, are contrary to the object sought to be achieved by the 2005 act,” said Justice Nariman, writing the judgement.
Applying the principle of severability, the court said that having struck down “adult male” in Section 2(q), the rest of the act is left intact and can be enforced to achieve the object of the legislation without the offending words.
The apex court passed its ruling while allowing an appeal against a Bombay High Court judgement that has read down the provision of the law.
The high court held that complaints can be filed against women as well.
The apex court went on to delete the provision, setting aside the judgement.
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