Senior Citizens Act 2007 do not prevail over Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005: Gujarat High Court
The bone of contention in this case was a conflict of rights between a father in law and daughter in law under Senior Citizens Act of 2007 and Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act of 2005 respectively which was before consideration of the Gujarat High Court of a bench consisting Justice Ashokkumar C Joshi in the matters between Jagdeepbhai Chandulal Patel v. Reshma Ruchin Patel C/SCA/11129/2022 decided on 18.1.2022.
The facts of the case are that in the present dispute is a petitioner is a senior citizen whose son resides abroad. The daughter in-law allegedly broke into his home illegally and prompted him to reside elsewhere.He moved to the family court at Ahmedabad seeking eviction of daughter in-law but it was dismissed.Therefore, he approached the High Court.
The counsel on behalf of the petitioner contended that he was solely entitled to live in that house under Senior Citizens Act 2007 and demanded that the daughter in-law be evicted.
The counsel on behalf of the respondent contended that she was the petitioner’s daughter-in-law, she had the right to a shared household in the household where she was married and could not be evicted from the same home in light of the provisions of the Domestic Violence Act.
The Gujarat High Court held a woman’s right to a residence permit for a shared household under the Domestic Violence Act cannot be revoked by an eviction order under the summary procedure established by the Seniors Act. The provisions of a former law are superior to the previous one, but there were exceptions to this rule. Thus, it became clear that both Laws should be interpreted in a harmonious manner. Two legislations with non-obstante clause were in conflict before the Court, with Justice Joshi discussing a Supreme Court ruling that addressed a similar issue,which is, S Vanitha v. Deputy Commissioner, Bengaluru Urban District, the ruled that a woman’s right to secure a residence permit in relation to a shared household cannot be abolished by a simple method such as securing an eviction order by adopting summary procedure under the Senior Citizens Act.Therefore, the petition was dismissed, concluding that the respondant had a right to the common household under the Domestic Violence Act.
Judgement reviewed by Bhaswati Goldar