Women can’t use domestic violence laws to claim share in property: MP High Court

The Madhya Pradesh high court on Friday ruled that the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005, could not be ‘misused’ to settle property disputes. Justice SC Sharma said this while quashing a woman’s petition, seeking <g data-gr-id="19">claim</g> on the property of her brothers. 

The Judge observed that denying share in the property to a married woman, who is not living with her parents or brothers, by her brothers “is not domestic violence”. 

The Judge found that the complaint filed by <g data-gr-id="18">woman</g> under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, is “misconceived”. The court, however, gave the woman liberty to file a civil suit, if eligible, for settling property claims. 

Advocate Raghvendra Singh Raghuvanshi, counsel for petitioner, said Asha Shukla had filed a complaint under Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 before district court in 2012 against her brothers Rajkishore Shukla and Rajendra Shukla, both residents of Depalpur, for denying her share in the property. 

The lower court had issued notices to Shukla brothers, following which they had moved the high court challenging the proceedings. 

Raghuvanshi said Asha Shukla was married 35 years ago and was happily living with her husband and children. After several years of marriage, she filed a case of domestic violence to get a share in her brothers’ property.