Women In Live-In Relationship Can File Case Against Domestic Violence: Kerala High Court

Women who are having live-in relationships are also eligible to file domestic violence cases, observed the Kerala High Court. The petitions will be filed under the Protection of  Women from Domestic Violence Act or DV Act of 2015.

A female victim of violence of any kind at the hands of a man with whom she was in a domestic relationship can file a case under the DV Act, said the court.

The DV Act was passed in the Indian Parliament by the Ministry of Women and Child Development in 2015. It ensures an effective protection of the rights of women who are subjected to violence of any kind within the family and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

The Act covers various offences and sub-offences including killing, rape, disfigurement, abuse, and other issues. It also defines domestic relationship as a relationship between two persons who live or have, at any point of time, lived together in a shared household, when they are by consanguinity, marriage, or through a relationship in the nature of marriage, adoption or are family members living together as a joint family, said the Court as reported by The News Minute. 

The court also said that, a domestic violence case that is in pending before a Magistrate cannot be transferred to a family court. The High Court was considering  a petition to transfer a case, filed against a man under the DV Act and pending before a Magistrate, to a family court.