Supreme Law News

Wife gets ₹3 crore Domestic Violence Act compensation

The High Court noted in this instance that because both parties hold prominent positions in their social and professional lives, the wife would be more affected by domestic violence because it would diminish her sense of value.

A trial court ruling mandating a man to compensate his estranged wife with ₹3 crores was recently confirmed by the Bombay High Court in a case involving the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005.

The trial court's conclusion that the husband had physically, emotionally, and mentally abused the wife between 1994 and 2017 was upheld by a one-judge panel of Justice Sharmila Deshmukh.

The Court went on to say that although there isn't a set formula for figuring out how much compensation is due in certain situations, it may also rely on how the victim of the violence was affected.

It is a fact that both individuals possess a good education and hold prominent positions in their professional and social lives.

Given her social standing, the respondent no. 1 (wife) would be more affected by domestic abuse since it would diminish her sense of value.

This should not be understood to imply that the victims of domestic abuse from different backgrounds won't be affected by it, the Court continued.

The High Court went on to say that the trial court had given the woman compensation after weighing all the information and taking into account the parties' income and status.

The trial court upheld the trial court's order, noting that "the applicant has committed acts of domestic violence continuously from the year 1994 to 2017 and has subjected wife to physical, economic, mental, and emotional abuse."

The trial court also taken into consideration the applicant's domestic violence acts and the evidence that has been brought to light.

The parties in front of the court were married in 1994 and thereafter relocated to the USA.

The couple went back to Mumbai in 2005. But the husband returned to the United States of America in 2014, divorced. Following the wife's domestic abuse allegation against him in Mumbai, the husband filed a plea in the US in 2017 to divorce his spouse.

A US court accepted the husband's divorce plea in 2018.

In 2023, an Indian court mandated that the man give his divorced wife ₹3 crores in recompense in addition to ₹1.5 lakhs per month in maintenance. Additionally, the man was told to either give the irate woman a suitable place to live or pay ₹75,000 in rent each month.

The husband contested the magistrate's decision. The guy filed a relief petition with the Bombay High judge after a sessions judge denied his plea.

The trial court's order, according to High Court Justice Deshmukh, was predicated on the discovery that there were ongoing incidents of domestic violence from 1994 to 2017. Accordingly, the High Court declared that there was nothing wrong with the ruling.

"The documentation unequivocally shows that both India and the United States commit acts of domestic violence. The High Court noted that economic abuse, which is a component of marital violence, also involves depriving an aggrieved person of their stridhan.

Accordingly, the High Court rejected the husband’s application and upheld the trial court’s order in favour of the wife.

JUDGEMENT

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Advocate & Consultant Supreme Court of India, High Courts & Tribunals.