Woman has right to stay at estranged in-laws’ home, says Supreme Court

New Delhi, October 16: A woman can stay in her husband’s family home even if she is estranged from him, the Supreme Court said Friday, overruling its earlier decision to the contrary. An estranged daughter-in-law cannot be evicted by her husband or family members and she has a right to stay there under the Domestic Violence Act, said the bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy and MR Shah.

Domestic violence in the country is rampant and every day some women encounter violence in some form or other, the court said. Under such circumstances, a woman resigns herself to the never-ending cycle of enduring violence and discrimination as a daughter, a sister, a wife, a mother, a partner or a single woman in her lifetime.

The judgment dismissed an appeal filed by one Satish Chander Ahuja challenging a Delhi High Court judgment of 2019, which ruled that his daughter-in-law Sneha Ahuja had the right of residence even though she was in the process of divorce from her husband Raveen Ahuja, NDTV reported.

Satish Ahuja had also appealed that his son had no share in the house as the property was his self-earned.

Interpreting the provisions of Section 2 (shared household) and Section 17 (right of residence) under the Domestic Violence Act, the judges said: “The definition of shared household given in Section 2 (s) cannot be read to mean that shared household can only be that household which is household of the joint family of which husband is a member or in which husband of the aggrieved person has a share”.

The court also rejected the man’s appeal that his son had no share in the property at the posh New Friends Colony area of Delhi.

https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/estranged-woman-can-stay-in-house-of-in-laws-says-supreme-court-2310838