Daughter-in-law has right to live in in-laws’ house says Supreme Court
The Supreme Court has given a historic verdict on Thursday. The Supreme Court held that under the Domestic Violence Act, the daughter-in-law has the right to live in the house of her husband’s parents. A three-judge bench headed by Judge Ashok Bhushan overturned the decision of the two-judge bench in the Tarun Batra case.
The court said in its judgment that the wife of the victim of domestic violence will get the right in the shared property of the family and also in the residential house. The Supreme Court has clearly stated in its ruling that the aggrieved wife will have the legal right to live in the ancestral and common property of her in-laws besides having the right over the property acquired i.e. the house built separately by the Husband. The Supreme Court, in its judgment citing the Domestic Violence Act 2005, made many things clear.
The bench while hearing the case overturned the decision of the two-member bench and also answered 6-7 questions. The bench gave this decision while hearing the case of SR Batra and others vs Tarun Batra of 2006.
Significantly, in the Tarun Batra case, a two-judge bench had said that daughters in law cannot live in property owned by their husband’s parents. Now the three-member bench has reversed the decision of Tarun Batra and has answered 6-7 questions. The court said that the daughter-in-law has the right not only in the separate property of the husband, but also in the shared house.
The first two-member bench had said in the judgment that a wife only has rights over her husband’s property. Senior advocate Nidhi Gupta, on behalf of Tarun Batra, argued that if the daughter-in-law is the property of the joint family, then the totality of the case needs to be looked into. She also has the right to reside in the house. The court then accepted the plea.
