jaig 21 August 2015

Pwdv right-to-residence claim

Need some clarification about the righ-to-residence claim under which the petitioner/wife claims separate residence or rent in her home city.

Me (husband) is NRI, and after marriage wife moved abroad alone to my place after 2 months. During these 2 months she mostly stayed in her parental home, and only 12-14 days in the husband's parental home in India. And after marital dispute she came back to India and staying again in her parental house. And in PWDV complain demanded for monthly rent in her hometowm - a posh Metro locality.

Under the act :

"shared household" means a household where the person aggrieved leaves or at any stage has lived in a domestic relationship either singly or along with the respondent and includes such a household whether owned or tenanted either jointly by the aggrieved person and the respondent, or owned or tenanted by either of them in respect of which either the aggrieved person or the respondent or both jointly or singly have any right, title, interest or equity and includes such a household which may belong to the joint family of which the respondent is a member, irrespective of whether the respondent or the aggrieved person has any right, title or interest in the shared household.

Now when the husband is NRI, her primary shared/matr. household is no doubt outside India, but after that her shared/matr. household in India is the husband's parental house occupied by husband's parents ? Is such claim maintanable even if she stayed there only 1 week as guest, not as family member.

Or is it her own parental house where she stayed after marriage, both singly and jointly with husband (4-5 days both husand-wife stayed in the wife's house). I would like to know laywers opinions in this regard.

Are there relevant supporting judgements which support that in NRI marriages, wife's shared household in India is her own parental home.

Reply Follow

2 Replies

prabhakar advocate (advocate) 22 August 2015

NO. Her parental home is not matrimonial home. What is matrimonial homes was defined by the courts long back before DV Act was enacted. In this case, she has two options. One, she can seek shared house-hold in in-laws' house and if in-laws' prove that it could not be a matrimonial house on account of couple's brief stay there, then wife can opt a separate rented house commensurate her and husband's living standards for which rent has to be borne by him. But, now a days, the courts are insisting the proof of domestic violence before granting any relief under DV Act.

Prabhakar - Advocate

(M)9958670740.

jaig 22 August 2015

Thank you Mr. Prabhakar for explaining this topic. and also thanks for reassuring my knowledge that DV need to be proved before granting relief. However I am trying to understand the possibilities and legal provisions.

In the later case if husband has to arrange a rent for her, can she demand in her own hometown or hubands provided accomodation in his hometown will be binding on her ?

Similarly, if the husband agrees to arrange accomodation in the premise of his parent's house, will that be a binding on wife ? Or she can still ask for rent ?

The case is that the wife's parental house is in the heart of a posh metro, and my home in suburbs of a tier-3 town in India. No question of letting a obnoxious wife to stay with old parents, however a part of the my parental house, currently rented out, can be provided to her for rent-free accomodation. And it is a guaranteed bet that the wife is noway going to give up her priviledged urban lifestyle and move to small-town suburb. If the husband agrees to provide such accomodation, will it be a binding and prevent her from asking rent for separate house in her hometown ?