Court Quashes Order in a Domestic Violance Case Proceeding
The court quashed an order in a proceeding related to Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005.
In the case of Sonali Thombre vs Kalpana Randhumal the court has come to the relief of the applicants by quashing and setting aside an order of issuance of notice dated 7.3.2024. The coram consisting of Urmila Joshi Phalke, J. has quashed this order in relation to a domestic violence proceeding wherein the applicants were neighbours of the respondent Kalpana Randhumal who alleged, that after her marriage she was being ill-treated by her husband and other family members, which forced the respondent Kalpana Randhumal to file a complaint against them under S498A IPC (Cruelty to a married woman) as well as filed applications under various provisions of the domestic violence act. The FIR of the complainant respondent Kalpana Randhumal was already quashed when the police verified that the applicants were neither close nor distant relatives of the informant lady. The court referred the judgment of U. Suvetha Vs. State by Inspector of Police and another, which has clarified the position that the persons other than relatives cannot be brought within the compass of Section 498-A of the IPC. Learned Counsel for the applicants Adv Charlewar argued that similar analogy must be applied in the present case as well since the present applicants were never in a domestic relationship and they are not within the definition of respondent therefore, the issuance of the notice by the learned Judicial Magistrate First Class, Chikhli itself is erroneous and therefore, the said notice liable to be quashed and set aside. The court further clarified the definition of “Respondent” and “Domestic Relationship” as provided under Section 2 (q) and 2 (f) of the Domestic Violence Act respectively and concluded that there is no relationship or there is no averment that at any point of time, the applicant (now respondent No.1) resided with the present applicants in a domestic relationship. The court applied the same analogy in the present case and allowed the criminal application and quashed the impugned order of issuance of notice. Advocate for Applicants - Advocate Ishwar S. Charlewar
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