The Bombay High Court (Aurangabad Bench) has ruled that a woman who leaves her matrimonial home before a divorce cannot later claim the “right to residence” under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 (DV Act). This holds true even if the woman’s appeal against the divorce decree is still pending.
Justice Sandipkumar More overturned a lower court’s decision, which had granted the woman the right to stay in her former matrimonial home and access amenities there.
The court explained that Section 17 of the DV Act grants the right to residence in a shared household. However, this right is only available if the woman was living in the shared home before the divorce took place. Since the woman had left the matrimonial home before the divorce, she could no longer claim this right.
This ruling came as a result of a plea filed by the woman’s in-laws, challenging a magistrate’s order that allowed the woman, now divorced, to reside in the matrimonial house. The in-laws argued that the house belonged to the woman’s father-in-law and that the marriage had been legally dissolved in July 2018. Although the woman had appealed the divorce, the High Court found that she had not provided any evidence showing that she was forced to leave the home by her husband or in-laws.
As a result, the court concluded that the woman is not entitled to claim residence in the matrimonial home after having left it before the divorce.
Case Title: Umakant Havgirao Bondre vs Sonali Suraj Bondre
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