In an important judgement, the Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that a woman can lodge a complaint of dowry harassment against her husband and in-laws at her parental home, away from her matrimonial residence, without an overt act of cruelty over there.
A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices L Nageswara Rao and Sanjay Kishan Kaul said even if the acts of physical cruelty committed in the matrimonial house may have ceased and such acts do not occur at the parental home, there can be no doubt that the mental trauma and the psychological distress would continue to persist at the parental home.
“We hold that the courts at the place where the wife takes shelter after leaving or driven away from the matrimonial home on account of acts of cruelty committed by the husband or his relatives, would, dependent on the factual situation, also have jurisdiction to entertain a complaint alleging commission of offences under Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code,” the top court said.
The court took into consideration the definition of “cruelty” and said that the emotional distress or psychological effect on the wife was bound to continue to traumatise her even after she left the matrimonial home and took shelter at the parental home.
The three-judge bench interpreted the legal provision during a reference made in 2012, to decide whether a woman forced to leave her matrimonial home on account of cruelty can initiate and access the legal process within the jurisdiction of the courts where she was forced to take shelter.
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