Perspectives on Law

In my earlier post , I proposed an argument that, being a remedial statute, the PWDV Act may be applied retrospectively. In this post, I propose an argument based on the wordings/language of the PWDV Act. Though the inhibition against retrospective construction has been applied with less insistence in case of remedial statutes, there is no such rule that all benevolent measures are retrospective. ( G.P Singh, Interpretation of Statutes .) Thus, I present another argument in favour of the retrospective application of the Act. The Supreme Court made an interesting observation in T.K. Lakshmana v. State of Madras , AIR 1968 SC 1489. It held that Section 44-B (2)(a)(i) Madras Hindu Religious Endowments Act, 1926, applies retrospectively because of the use of the words 'has made,' 'has failed,' 'has ceased,' 'has become,' as these words are capable of denoting events happening before or after coming into force of the statute.  Similarly, under the PWDV Ac...

Amongst the many conflicting decisions arising out the application of Protection of Women Against Domestic Violence Act, one of them, is in respect of the operation of the Act. The Andhra Pradesh High Court held that the PWDV Act does not apply retrospectively and that an action under the Act can lie only if the acts of domestic violence are committed on or after 26 Oct 2006, i.e. the date on which the Act came into force. Similarly, a Delhi Metropolitan Court  and a JMFC in Goa also took the view that this Act will not be applicable if the acts complained of have been committed prior to the passing of the Act. On the other hand the Bombay High Court and Madras High Court have taken a different view. They held that, the court is competent to take cognizance of the act of domestic violence committed even prior to the Act came into force and pass necessary protection orders. The Act can be applied retrospectively to take cognizance of the ac...

A beautiful legal article has been written by Mr. Neeraj Aarora on the same question discussing in detail the judgments on this point and also analysing the question with the aid of principles of interpretation of statutes. The same may be accessed here . In addition to the argument I have made in the post which may be accessed here , he discusses the principles of interpretation of a "proviso" in greater detail.

Two High Court judgments ( Madras and MP ) take the view that a woman cannot be a respondent under DV Act as defined in Section 2(q). Section 2 (q) reads - Respondent means any adult male person who is, or has been in a domestic relationship with the aggrieved person and against whom the aggrieved person has sought any relief under this Act: Provided that an aggrieved wife or female living in a relationship in the nature of a marriage may also file a complaint against a relative of the husband or the male partner. The unanimous opinion of these Hon’ble High Courts has been explained as follows in another judgment : “… Section 12 of the Act provides that an application (not a complaint) for seeking one or more reliefs under the Act can be filed. On perusal of Section 18 to 22 of the Act, it appears that the reliefs under these Sections can be passed on the application under Section 12 of the Act. The word complaint as appeared in the definition of respondent under Secti...