MUMBAI: Observing that the rights of senior citizens, as conferred by Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, cannot be used as weapon in proceedings initiated by the daughter-in-law under the provisions of Domestic Violence (DV) Act, sessions court rejected the plea of a senior citizen couple from Chembur who wanted their estranged daughter-in-law to be evicted from their home.
Their son had moved out and rented a separate flat in the area. Estranged, the daughter-in-law refused to move into that flat with him.
Confirming a magistrate's court order that had rejected the in-laws' plea, the sessions court said, "There being no enabling provision in DV Act, conferring any rights upon the parents-in-law to evict their daughter-in-law from the shared household, I am of the view that the order rejecting the application filed for evicting the daughter-in-law cannot be said to be not legal and proper and as such, no interference in the order is called for."
The parents-in-law, aged 60 and 57, moved sessions court after the magistrate rejected their plea in August 2021.
The 41-year-old daughter-in-law, a housewife, had filed a criminal complaint under the DV Act, claiming various types of relief against her husband and in-laws. She alleged her husband had abused her. The parents-in-law told court that the relations between their son and his wife got strained. They said the son left home. Their granddaughter too stayed in the house with them.
They said that the house in which they were residing was their self-acquired property, and their son and daughter-in-law had no legal right in it. Seeking the daughter-in-law's eviction, they alleged she was torturing them mentally and emotionally, and creating a nuisance. They alleged that she threatened to create such an atmosphere in the house that would force them to die by suicide.
The sessions court said there's no dispute that the daughter-in-law was residing together in the house with with her in laws. "Therefore, the house in which respondent No 1 (daughter-in-law) is residing with appellants (parents-in-law) can be termed as shared household as contemplated by provision of the DV Act. The DV Act has given certain rights to the wife in the shared household, including rights of residence," the sessions court said.
