SUPREME COURT OF
INDIA
S.R. BATRA AND ANOTHER
V
TARUNA BATRA
HON'BLE
JUSTICE MARKANDEYA KATJU
15/12/2006
Judgement
By: HON'BLE JUSTICE MARKANDEY KATJU
1.
Leave granted.
2.
This appeal has been filed against the impugned judgment of the Delhi
High Court dated 17.1.2005 in C.M.M. No. 1367 of 2004 and C.M.M. No.
1420 of 2004.
3.
Heard learned Counsel for the parties and perused the record.
4.
The facts of the case are that respondent Smt. Taruna Batra was married
to Amit Batra, son of the appellants, on 14.4.2000. After the marriage
respondent Taruna Batra started living with her husband Amit Batra in
the house of the appellant No. 2 in the second floor. It is not disputed
that the said house which is at B-135, Ashok Vihar, Phase-I, Delhi belongs
to the appellant No. 2 and not to her son Amit Batra.
5.
Amit Batra filed a divorce petition against his wife Taruna Batra, and
it is alleged that as a counter blast to the divorce petition Smt. Taruna
Batra filed an F.I.R. under Sections 406/498A/506 and 34 of the Indian
Penal Code, 1860 and got her father-in-law, motherin- law, her husband
and married sister-in-law arrested by the police and they were granted
bail only after three days.
6.
It is admitted that Smt. Taruna Batra had shifted to her parent's residence
because of the dispute with her husband. She alleged that later on when
she tried to enter the house of the appellant No. 2 which is at property
No. B-135, Ashok Vihar, Phase-I, Delhi she found the main entrance locked
and hence she filed Suit No. 87/2003 for a mandatory injunction to enable
her to enter the house. The case of the appellants was that before any
order could be passed by the trial Judge on the suit filed by their
daughter-in-law, Smt.
Taruna Batra, along with her parents forcibly broke open the locks of
the house at Ashok Vihar belonging to appellant No. 2, the mother-in-law
of Smt. Taruna Batra. The appellants alleged that they have been terrorized
by their daughter-in-law and for some time they had to stay in their
office. It is stated by the appellants that their son Amit Batra, husband
of the respondent, had shifted to his own flat at Mohan Nagar, Ghaziabad
before the above litigation between the parties had started.
7.
The learned trial Judge decided both the applications for temporary
injunction filed in suit No. 87/2003 by the parties by his order on
4.3.2003. He held that the petitioner was in possession of the second
floor of the property and he granted a temporary injunction restraining
the appellants from interfering with the possession of Smt. Taruna Batra,respondent
herein.
8.
Against the aforesaid order the appellants filed an appeal before the
Senior Civil Judge, Delhi who by his order dated 17.9.2004 held that
Smt. Taruna Batra was not residing in the second floor of the premises
in question. He also held that her husband Amit Batra was not living
in the suit property and the matrimonial home could not be said to be
a
place where only wife was residing. He also held that Smt. Taruna Batra
had no right to the properties other than that of her husband. Hence,
he allowed the appeal and dismissed the temporary injunction application.
9. Aggrieved, Smt. Taruna Batra filed a petition under Article 227 of
the Constitution Of India, 1950 which was disposed of by the impugned
judgment. Hence, these appeals.
10.
The learned Single Judge of the High Court in the impugned judgment
held that the second floor of the property in question was the matrimonial
home of Smt. Taruna Batra. He further held that even if her husband
Amit Batra had shifted to Ghaziabad that would not make Ghaziabad the
matrimonial home of Smt. Taruna Batra. The Learned Judge was
of the view that mere change of the residence by the husband would not
shift the matrimonial home from Ashok Vihar, particularly when the husband
had filed a divorce petition against his wife. On this reasoning, the
learned Judge of the High Court held that Smt. Taruna Batra was entitled
to continue to reside in the second floor of B-135, Ashok Vihar, Phase-I,
Delhi as that is her matrimonial home.
11.
With respect, we are unable to agree with the view taken by the High
Court. As held by this Court in B.R. Mehta v. Atma Devi and Ors., whereas
in England the rights of the spouses to the matrimonial home are governed
by the Matrimonial Homes Act, 1967, no such right exists in India.
In the same decision it was observed "it may be that with change
of situation and complex problems arising it is high time to give the
wife or the husband a right of occupation in a truly matrimonial home,
in case of the marriage breaking up or in case of strained relationship
between the husband and the wife."
12.
In our opinion, the above observation is merely an expression of hope
and it does not lay down any law. It is only the legislature which can
create a law and not the Court. The courts do not legislate, and whatever
may be the personal view of a Judge, he cannot create or amend the law,
and must maintain judicial restraint.
13.
There is no such law in India, like the British Matrimonial Homes Act,
1967, and in any case, the rights which may be available under any law
can only be as against the husband and not against the father-in-law
or mother-in-law. 14. Here, the house in question belongs to the mother-in-law
of Smt. Taruna Batra and it does not belong to her husband Amit Batra.
Hence, Smt. Taruna Batra cannot claim any right to live in the said
house. Appellant No. 2, the mother-in-law of Smt. Taruna Batra has stated
that she had taken a loan for acquiring the house and it is not a joint
family property. We see no reason to disbelieve this statement.
15.
Learned Counsel for the respondent then relied upon the Protection of
Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005. He stated that in view of the
said Act respondent Smt. Taruna Batra cannot be dispossessed from the
second floor of the property in question.
16.
It may be noticed that the finding of the learned Senior Civil Judge
that in fact Smt. Taruna Batra was not residing in the premises in question
is a finding of fact which cannot be interfered with either under Article
226 or 227 of the Constitution Of India, 1950. Hence, Smt. Taruna Batra
cannot claim any injunction restraining the appellants from dispossessing
her from the property in question for the simple reason that she was
not in possession at all of the said property and hence the question
of dispossession does
not arise.
17.
Apart from the above, we are of the opinion that the house in question
cannot be said to be a 'shared household' within the meaning of Section
2(s) of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 (hereinafter
referred to as the 'Act'). Section 2(s) states: Shared household"
means a household where the person aggrieved lives or at any stage has
lived in a domestic relationship either singly or along with the respondent
and
includes such a household whether owned or tenanted either jointly by
the aggrieved person and the respondent, or owned or tenanted by either
of them in respect of which either the aggrieved person or the respondent
or both jointly or singly have any right, title, interest or equity
and includes such a household which may belong to the joint family of
which the respondent is a member, irrespective of whether the respondent
or the aggrieved person has any right, title or interest in the shared
household.
18.
Learned Counsel for the respondent Smt. Taruna Batra has relied upon
Sections 17 and 19(1) of the aforesaid Act, which state:
17. (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the
time being in force, every woman in a domestic relationship shall have
the right to reside in the shared household, whether or not she has
any right, title or beneficial interest in the same.
(2) The aggrieved person shall not be evicted or excluded from the shared
household or any part of it by the respondent save in accordance with
the procedure established by law.
19. (1) While disposing of an application under Sub-section (1) of Section
12, the Magistrate may, on being satisfied that domestic violence has
taken place, pass a residence order-
(a) restraining the respondent from dispossessing or in any other manner
disturbing the possession of the aggrieved person from the shared household,
whether or not the respondent has a legal or equitable interest in the
shared household;
(b) directing the respondent to remove himself from the shared household;
(c) restraining the respondent or any of his relatives from entering
any portion of the shared household in which the aggrieved person resides;
(d) restraining the respondent from alienating or disposing off the
shared household or encumbering the same;
(e) restraining the respondent from renouncing his rights in the shared
household except with the leave of the Magistrate; or
(f) directing the respondent to secure same level of alternate accommodation
for the aggrieved person as enjoyed by her in the shared household or
to pay rent for the same, if the circumstances so require:
Provided that no order under Clause (b) shall be passed against any
person who is a woman.
19. Learned Counsel for the respondent Smt. Taruna Batra stated that
the definition of shared household includes a household where the person
aggrieved lives or at any stage
had lived in a domestic relationship. He contended that since admittedly
the respondent had lived in the property in question in the past, hence
the said property is her shared household We cannot agree with this
submission.
20. If the aforesaid submission is accepted, then it will mean that
wherever the husband and wife lived together in the past that property
becomes a shared household. It is quite possible that the husband and
wife may have lived together in dozens of places e.g. with the husband's
father, husband's paternal grand parents, his maternal parents, uncles,
aunts,
brothers, sisters, nephews, nieces etc. If the interpretation canvassed
by the learned Counsel for the respondent is accepted, all these houses
of the husband's relatives will be shared households and the wife can
well insist in living in the all these houses of her husband's relatives
merely because she had stayed with her husband for some time in those
houses in the past. Such a view would lead to chaos and would be absurd..
It is well settled that any interpretation which leads to absurdity
should not be accepted.
21.
Learned Counsel for the respondent Smt. Taruna Batra has relied upon
Section
19(1)(f)
of the Act and claimed that she should be given an alternative accommodation.
In our opinion, the claim for alternative accommodation can only be
made against the husband and not against the husband's in-laws or other
relatives.
22.
As regards Section 17(1) of the Act, in our opinion the wife is only
entitled to claim a right to residence in a shared household, and a
'shared household' would only mean the house belonging to or taken on
rent by the husband, or the house which belongs to the joint family
of which the husband is a member. The property in question in the present
case neither belongs to Amit Batra nor was it taken on rent by him nor
is it a joint family property of which the husband Amit Batra is a member,
it is the exclusive property of
appellant No. 2, mother of Amit Batra. Hence it cannot be called a 'shared
household'.
23.
No doubt, the definition of 'shared household' in Section 2(s) of the
Act is not very happily worded, and appears to be the result of clumsy
drafting, but we have to give it an interpretation which is sensible
and which does not lead to chaos in society.
24.
In view of the above, the appeal is allowed. The impugned judgment of
the High Court is set aside and the order of Senior Civil Judge dismissing
the injunction application of Smt. Taruna Batra is upheld. No costs.
Contempt Petition (C) No. 38/2006 :
25.
In view of the judgment given above, the contempt petition stands dismissed.