Last Updated on August 19, 2021 by Administrator
By- Shrey Garg.
The Nagpur bench of The Bombay High Court has ruled that a man entering into a matrimonial alliance with a second wife after divorcing his first wife will neither qualify as cruelty nor will be considered as an act of domestic violence under the Prevention of Domestic Violence Act, 2005.
The single judge bench of Justice Manish Pitale has observed that “Merely because the applicant No.1 performing a second marriage cannot come within the definition of domestic violence under Section 3 of the D.V. Act” and thereby quashed the petition filed by the ex- wife.
In this case there was marital disharmony between the appellant husband and the respondent ex -wife. As a result of which the husband filed for a decree of divorce before the Family Court on the grounds of cruelty. The Family court granted a decree of divorce to the husband and also held that he has been a victim of cruelty inflicted by his wife. This decision was further affirmed by the Apex Court.
After these set of incidents, the respondent wife filed a petition under Domestic Violence Act before the magistrate claiming maintenance, compensation and other monetary benefits from her husbands. The in- laws of the wife as a response filed a petition before the magistrate to quash these proceedings however their plea was rejected by the magistrate. Consequently, they filed a appeal before the High Court to quash the proceedings.
After analyzing the chain of events, the High Court observed that the wife has filed for domestic violence after a final decision of the Supreme Court. The high court further said that this is a blatant abuse of process of law. The court also reprimanded the wife for unnecessarily dragging her in- laws on matters which have already been settled in the earlier round of litigations and thereby quashed the order of magistrate.
