Domestic violence: In-laws to pay monetary relief to widow

In a significant order,a court here has asked the father-in-law and brother-in-law of a widow to pay Rs 15,000 per month interim "monetary relief" to her for loss of earnings after she accused them of domestic violence and grabbing her husband's shop, but held that she was not entitled for maintenance under the Muslim personal law.
Additional Sessions Judge Sanjay Bansal passed the order while allowing the appeal of the two men against trial court's order asking them to pay Rs 30,000 to the woman, belonging to a Muslim family, and her kids.
The court said the woman cannot be granted maintenance but she can get monetary relief for loss of earnings and share of the income from the shop, earlier run by her husband and now allegedly grabbed by her father-in-law and brother-in-law.

The court held that award of Rs 20,000 per month for payment of school fees and Rs 10,000 per month as kitchen expenses cannot be sustained as that would amount to payment of maintenance which is not permissible under the personal law.
The court also made it clear that under the Muslim Personal Law, there was no obligation upon a father-in-law to "maintain" wife and children of his deceased son.
"The position of law is even more clear in respect of 'jeth' (brother-in-law). A 'jeth' is under no obligation to maintain widow and children of his deceased brother. Though provisions of Protection of Women from Domestic Violence (PWDV) Act are secular, but it is not that the said Act completely overrides the personal laws.

"The law regarding inheritance, succession, marriage and maintenance would still be the personal laws of the parties. The provisions of PWDV Act have no say in those matters," the judge said.

The magisterial court had earlier asked the two men to pay Rs 20,000 for the kids's school fees and Rs 10,000 as kitchen expenses to the woman.
"The award of Rs 20,000 per month for payment of school
fees cannot be sustained as that would amount to payment of maintenance which is not permissible under the law. Even award of Rs 10,000 per month as kitchen expenses is not legally permissible i.E. Not payable as maintenance.

"However, the widow can be granted monetary relief - not as maintenance - but as monetary relief for her loss of earnings and share of the income from the shop because there are allegations that shop run by her husband has been grabbed by the appellants. These allegations need to be established during trial. But in the inter regnum period, widow can be granted some monetary relief by way of interim arrangement," the court said.
The woman had earlier filed a petition in the court alleging that after her husband's death, her in-laws used to harass her and subjected her to domestic violence.

She had also alleged that her in-laws grabbed the shop near Jama Masjid here which was being run by her husband and other properties also from where they were getting rent.
The woman's in-laws denied the allegations.