Domestic violence committed in US can be tried by Indian court, rules Bombay HC

The Bombay High Court has ruled that the act of domestic violence committed in the United States (US) can be tried by a court in India.

Justice S S Shinde passed the judgement on a petition filed by a US-based IT professional, Mohammad Zuber Farooqi, who challenged the order of Mumbai's Mulund Metropolitan court and session court, which had directed him to pay interim maintenance to his wife.

The couple got married and shifted to the United States in 2008. But two years later the petitioner divorced his wife, who filed a domestic violence complaint against Zuber in India.

Following this, the Mulund court asked him to pay Rs 30,000 and Rs 15,000 per month to his wife and child.

Zuber then challenged the decision in a sessions court, which upheld it. He then moved the Bombay High Court to challenge the two orders but got no relief.

The High Court has now granted Farooqi four weeks' time to comply with the order and pay the compensation. In the matter, the court observed that a delay of two years in filing a domestic violence complaint is no ground to not hear the complaint.