Dv act and recent supreme court judgement of ahuja vs ahuja
Nithinya Swamy
(Querist) 17 February 2021
This query is : Resolved
Sir / Madam
I am widowed lady of 65 years. I am retired Govt School teacher , residing in my own DDA LIG flat in Rohini. About 2 years after my son's marriage, my son and daughter in law started mistreating and abusing me for the flat. They want me to transfer the flat in their joint name , and want me to do all household work, and look after my grandchild at home. They don't allow me to go out, or visit temple.
Last year with help of neighbors, I filed a case in Rohini Courts under Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act to evict them from my flat. But my son and his wife filed DV Act against her husband (my son) and me, and had got residence order under DV Act that allowed them to stay in my flat. Last one year I have lived in constant fear of my son and daughter in law, they shout at me, even slapped me twice, and as there is only one entrance gate of flat, I don't go out much (once a week) out of fear of my son.
Now I have been told by my lawyer Mr Gupta that after the Supreme Court judgement, my daughter in law and son can't be evicted from flat whatsoever. Although I have read the DV Act, and it mentions providing alternate accommodation to the daughter in law by husband.... Then why doesn't Court ask my son to provide accommodation to his wife ? Why are they staying in my house ?
Please any replies will be helpful, as I have lost hope to live in this world.
NS
Nithinya Swamy
(Querist) 17 February 2021
Please any expert help will be valuable. I am thinking to tell judge if i can meet him to let me give half of my monthly pension to son and daughter in law if they move out of my house and leave me....
Guest
(Expert) 17 February 2021
The Judgement of Bombay High Court on Nov--26th --2019 pronounced by Honorable Justice SK Dharmathigari and Justice RI Chagala would be certainly helpful to you.. The 74 Year old father had won the case against abusive eldest son and daughter in law .The Court had asked them to vacate the house. Better discuss your Issue in detail with an Very Senior Advocate.
K Rajasekharan
(Expert) 25 February 2021
You have no legal impediment in evicting your adult son from your flat if your flat is owned by you alone.
Meantime you cannot evict his wife from your flat as she cannot be evicted from the shared household unlawfully.
Subsequently you can take on her whose accommodation is to be met by her husband alone. You can evict her too lawfully later because you own your house and she has no right on it once your son moves out.
In Satish Chander Ahuja v Sneha Ahuja, what the Supreme Court (SC) says is that “shared household” can be of the relative and need not be owned by her husband. In the case the SC liberally interpreted the term shared household and held that an aggrieved woman under DV Act can claim residence in the shared household even if it belonged to a relative of the husband, if she and her husband lived there with some permanency. The SC arrived at this liberal interpretation after overruling the SC’s restrictive interpretation of the shared household in the S R Batra v Taruna Batra judgement.
The S R Batra judgement held that a shared household must be one which belongs to the husband or of the joint family in which he is a member but not a house of his relatives.
Every woman in a domestic relationship shall have the right to reside in the shared household, whether or not she has any right, title or beneficial interest in the household. But the court does not say that they should not be lawfully evicted ever.
It is the bounden duty of a husband to pay for the accommodation of his wife and that is not the duty of the mother in law or father in law. But in evicting a lady the legal course alone can be followed.
On the contrary a son can be evicted by giving him a notice with a reasonable period and keeping the door closed after the specific period. You can file a police case also against him if he encroaches into your house later. He cannot get any remedy from any court if he is an adult.
A mother has no duty to keep a troublesome son in her house, as the SC held in some cases.
T. Kalaiselvan, Advocate
(Expert) 29 May 2021
You may have to file a suit for ejectment to eject both your son and his wife from the property owned by you alone by a registered deed in your name.
No doubt the tribunal can come to your rescue on this but since the DV court has given an order of restrain you may not be able to remove your daughter in law from the house.
Therefore you can get your son removed from your house by an order of court after which she has to follow suit to claim residence from her husband and not from her mother in law.
