Complaint under Domestic Violence Act can be filed by foreigners : Rajasthan High Court
The High Court of Rajasthan, through learned judge, Justice Vinit Kumar Mathur in the case Robarto Niyaddu vs State of Rajasthan (S.B. Criminal Misc(Pet.) No. 4666/2021) held that complaints under Domestic Violence Act can be filed by foreigners.
BRIEF FACTS OF THE CASE: The writ petition was filed against the order passed by learned ADJ (Women Atrocities Cases), Jodhpur Metropolitan in Criminal Appeal filed against the order passed by Civil Judge and Jodhpur Metro Magistrate No.6, Jodhpur. The petitioner had filed an application for rejection of complaint undertaken by the respondent- complainant under section 12 of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005. The application preferred by the petitioner on the ground of maintainability of the complaint as being non maintainable was dismissed by the learned trial court by an order. The order was assailed by the petitioner by way of filing an appeal before the appellate court and the same was also rejected by the appellate court. Aggrieved against both the orders, the present petition was filed
JUDGEMENT: After hearing contentions raised by both the parties, the court held that a plain reading of the Domestic Violence Act of 2005 revealed that protection under the Act was also extended to the persons who are temporarily resident of India being covered under the definition of aggrieved person as per section 2 (a) of the Act of 2005. The court remarked “Even Article 21 of the Constitution of India extends the benefit of protection not only to every citizen of this country, but also to a “person” who may not be a citizen of the Country. Article 21 states that no person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to a procedure established by law. Therefore, looked at from that angle, a person aggrieved i.e. respondent No.2 is very much entitled to get protection of section 12 of the Act of 2005”. The court dismissed the petitions by stating that the impugned orders did not suffer from any infirmity.
JUDGEMENT REVIEWED BY – AMRUTHA K