DV Act applies to the Past Domestic Relationships too

The Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh HC ruled that the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, applies to past domestic relationships. 

The Court rejected the plea of a woman’s in-laws to dismiss domestic violence charges, where they argued no domestic relationship existed after she left the marital home in 2016. The woman accused her husband and in-laws of taunting and assaulting her for insufficient dowry. 

The Court also rejected the argument that the complainant (daughter-in-law) could not have filed a second complaint on the same issue, after having withdrawn her earlier complaint in 2021.

Accordingly, the plea filed by the parents-in-law (petitioners) was dismissed.