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In a noteworthy decision, a local court in Jammu and Kashmir has imposed a rupees 10 lakh fine on a woman who had dragged her husband into a domestic violence case, pursued the matter right up to the Apex Court, and eventually decided to withdraw it.

Court said that this case was one such glaring example of an abuse of the process of law where the wife had protracted the proceedings under the 'Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 (DV Act)' up to its "maximum capacity of elasticity" just to ensure that her husband remains deprived of the shared-household even though it was owned by him.

Judge Fayaz Ahmad Qureshi presiding over the Small Causes Court in Srinagar also observed,

"Protection of Women (from Domestic Violence) Act, is to give protection to women from violence...(it) has not been enacted to cause harassment to other spouse or to further aggravate matrimonial discord to the extent of throwing the respondent out of his own house."

The Court, therefore, imposed ₹10 lakh cost on the woman who had procured orders under the DV Act to throw her husband out of his house but decided to opt for withdrawal preventing the implementation of a series of interim orders issued by various courts. 

However, the court has allowed the wife to withdraw the case ordering her to pay the compensation to the husband since he was deprived of shelter and accommodation in his own house during the pendency of the petition.

Factual Matrix

The Court was hearing a petition filed by the wife in the year 2019 alleging domestic violence at the hands of her husband. An ex-parte order was passed by the court on February 26 d directing the concerned SHO to file a report. Thereafter, on March 23, 2019 the court restrained the t from entering into his own residential house.

Under the garb of this order, the wife with help of her relatives threw the husband out from his own residential house and then used the police agency to further harass him. 

However, on April 29, 2019, the court modified the March order and asked the parties to accommodate each other. The wife was to provide two rooms in the house to the husband.The wife appealed against the same right up to the Supreme Court but lost. 

Subsequently, the husband filed a plea before the Court seeking implementation of its April 29, 2019 order and on November 15, 2021 the Court directed the concerned SHO to implement the order of April 29, 2019 in letter and spirit.

At this juncture, the petitioner filed the present plea seeking withdrawal of her petition.

Case Title: Shamshada Akhter v. Ajaz Parvaiz Shah