Aggrieved person cant make all relatives of the husband as a respondent under PWDVA!

It is apparent from the above provision of Domestic Violence Act that before passing an order on aplication the magistrate has to take into consideration the domestic incident report received from him by Protection Officer or Service Provider. The order dated 5th November 2009 of learned MM shows that before serving notice to the respondent the learned MM did not take into consideration anything and did not even consider the contents of the application and did not try to find out as to whether respondents mentioned in the application satisfied the definition of respondent under Section 2(q) of Domestic Violence Act.

The order dated 5th November 2009 passed by the learned MM is therefore set aside. The learned MM is directed to consider the domestic incident report and consider the contents of the application and find out whether the respondents (petitioners herein) had any domestic relationship with the applicant and could be fitted in the definition of the “respondent” as given in Section 2(q) of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 and then only issue notice to them.

Sec 28(2) Domestic Violence Act, para 5:

…… No doubt Section 28(2) gives power to the MM of laying down its own procedure for disposal of an application under Section 12 or under Sub-Section 23(2) but the procedure an MM can adopt cannot be violative of the Act itself or violative of principals of natural justice……