Domestic violence case:HC stays proceedings against magistrate

The Bombay High Court has stayed the proceedings initiated against a woman chief metropolitan magistrate in Gujarat in a domestic violence case filed by her brother's estranged wife.
Justice R P Sondurbaldota, however, refused to stay the proceedings against the victim's husband, who is also a judicial magistrate in Gujarat, in the case.
The court was hearing the petitions filed by the victim's husband and her sister-in-law (the chief metropolitan magistrate) seeking to quash the case filed against them in Mumbai's Borivali police station.
"The petition is admitted. The proceedings against the sister-in-law are stayed. The respondent (victim) shall file her affidavit in reply to the petition," the high court directed on February 27.

The court said that the victim has prima facie not been able to show that she and her sister-in-law lived in the same house.
Under the provisions of Domestic Violence Act, a case can be filed only against those with whom a person has lived in the same house.

Meanwhile, the court also said, "The case against the husband cannot be stayed.
Following this, the victim's husband withdrew his petition.
The couple got married in 2007 and have two children. They separated in 2014.
The estranged wife later filed a dowry harassment case under section 498 (A) of IPC against her husband and his family members at a police station in Gujarat.

Since the victim has been staying in Mumbai after the separation, she also filed a case in Borivali police station here under the Domestic Violence Act against her husband and her sister-in-law.